Just Ice
by Ruth Joyce
Summary: Everyone knows that Jack Frost magically fixed his staff while in Antarctica. But nobody realized the consequences until later. Now, Jack, Frozone, Elsa, and Periwinkle must discover why they were brought together, and fight to save the lost children of the world. No romance, just pure friendship.
1. Prologue: Jack

Author's Note:In honor of being a fanfiction writer and a part of for a year now, I'm doing a multi book release! Two of them, "Crime At The Tower" and "Bear With Me," are one shot sequels to two of my other one shots "an Eye-opening experience" and "You'll Be In My Heart" respectively. I'm premiering "Just-Ice," a friendship fanfic about Elsa, Jack Frost, Periwinkle, and Frozone aka Lucius Best, and the second part of "Alons-y!" today as well. Be sure to check them out!

**Welcome to Just Ice! A few quick notes before we begin. One, in this story, I made the fairies larger than they are in the movie. They are about four feet tall and still extremely slender. Also, humans (and other magical beings) can understand them, no matter what language they speak. It's an extra property of the pixie dust that I invented. Automatic translator. **

**And two, I do not own the rights to any of the movies mentioned or referenced, or the characters belonging to said movies. Rise of the Guardians belongs to DreamWorks. Frozen, The Incredibles, and Secret of the Wings belong to Disney. These are the four main movies featured. There are also various cameos too numerous to mention, but again I don't own the rights. **

**Now onto the story. Or at least the very short prologue.**

* * *

Jack picked up the remains of his broken staff. Determined to get back to his friends and save the world, he thrust the pieces together, willing them to mend.

Snap!

The pieces slipped, leaving the staff even more splintered than before. Jack simply did not have enough power to mend it.

But of course that did not deter him. He tried once more, this time closing his eyes and summoning more ice than he knew he had in him. Suddenly the staff began to glow blue and white. Ice, snow, and frost gathered at the break, sealing it shut. Tiny blue specks swirled around in the air. With a happy whoop, Jack Frost flew into the sky.

He did not stop to ponder how the staff had been mended. He certainly didn't care that the ice had not completely been his.

Jack did not realize what he had just done. But the Man in the Moon did. Chuckling to himself, Manny settled in to watch the unfolding events.

**An: Since this chapter was so short, I'll also be posting the next one.**


	2. Chapter 1: Periwinkle

Chapter 1: Periwinkle

Periwinkle zipped through the trees, finally darting into a hollow oak that had become her temporary home. Well camouflaged, the hidden lair had escaped the notice of the Scout Fairies for quite some time now. Only she and her sister Tinkerbell knew its secret location. Peri only hoped that this time the Scouts hadn't seen her slip into the Autumn Woods this time.

"Surprise!" Peri jumped two inches, hitting her head on the low branch ceiling. "Oh I'm so sorry! Did I scare you? I guess I kind of scared you, didn't I? I thought you liked surprises."

"Shhh!" Peri exclaimed, covering Tink's mouth. "They're close!"

Nodding, Tink pulled away from her anxious sister. "Sorry," she whispered.

Silently, the girls crept up to the tiny peek hole. Looking out, Peri could see the two Scouts that had been chasing her earlier talking in low voices and glancing towards their hiding spot.

"They found me," Peri whispered.

Tink slapped her forehead. "I'm so stupid! I knew they've been trying to find you, I should have kept my big mouth shut."

"No, Tink, it wasn't your fault. I wasn't careful enough. Either way I'm leaving tonight."

"Where will you go?"

"The mainland."

"You can't! It's too far off."

"I have to Tinkerbell! I don't have any other choice. Queen Clarion and Lord Malori are getting no where with Zarina, and as long as she can't persuade the Scout Fairies that they're wrong, then I'm toast."

"Well at least let me help you escape."

"How?"

"I had a little something in mind..."

…

"How do I look?" Tink asked, spinning around in front of the mirror. Her normally green dress had been frosted over to make it look blue. It hadn't turned out quite like she wanted, but in the fading light, you couldn't tell. Her golden hair had also been frosted over to give a white appearance.

"Almost exactly like me," Peri said. "I must say, the frost job is excellent. Who did it for you?"

Tink laughed. "You were amazing! And my hair! It's white!"

Peri laughed too. "Not quite. Right now it looks more like pale platinum blonde, but as long as you don't let them get too close, they won't know the difference!"

"I won't let them get near me until we reach the Pixie Dust Tree. Silvermist, Iridessa and the others are waiting to stop them."

"Are you sure you want to do this? What if you get caught? The Scouts won't like it when they find they've been tricked."

Tink smiled and took Peri's hands. "You know I'll do anything for you. I'll be fine, I promise." She hugged Peri quickly. "Love you!" She called as she flew out of the tree and darted in the direction of the Pixie Dust Tree.

"I love you too," Peri whispered softly as she watched the fairies dart after her sister. "Be safe."

A few minutes later, the coast was clear, and Peri flew out into the night. She followed the creek that ran between the winter and autumn woods until she reached the coast. Looking back, she saw bright flashes of light and head the roar of raging water surrounding an area near the tree. Tink and the others were safe. Then, with a last, longing glance home, Periwinkle shouldered her backpack and started off across the ocean.

The night was pleasantly warm and peaceful, giving the winter fairy time to reflect on the hectic events of the past two weeks. Shortly after the Four Seasons Festival, Zarina's story had spread to the far corners of Pixie Hollow. Several had been happy at her return, but the Scout Fairies were especially joyful; they had been waiting for a moment like this for years. Ever since Lord Malori broke his wing, they had been especially interested in prohibiting the use of illegal magic. While at first they did no harm, the members eventually got to the point where they arrested everyone that even looked at Pixie Dust. Queen Clarion banned them from doing any more work, though they continued to meet secretly and kept track of all the fairies that had messed with magic. But now they had a reason to come back.

"We must make sure other fairies don't turn like Zarina. They might not all turn good again," they said.

Queen Clarion had reluctantly let them, and Zarina had gladly joined them as their leader, knowing full well the consequences of playing with magic. That's when the Scouts began to arrest all the fairies on their list. Apparently, because Tink saved Pixie Hollow more times than one, they forgave her crossing borders, but not Peri's. Periwinkle was on the run from the Scouts while Clarion and Malori tried to convince Zarina, who knew nothing of the sisters' story, to call off the hunt.

"Stupid Scouts!" Peri suddenly screamed in frustration, kicking the waves with her feet. She turned and looked back towards Pixie Hollow, now long gone. "Because of you, I've had to leave my home, my friends, and my sister!" She started sobbing, hovering in place over the salty water. "And I don't know if I'll ever get to go back," she whispered.

Her meltdown was at that moment interrupted by a loud screech. Peri darted upwards, barely dodging the hungry sea hawk and losing her backpack in the process. The bird made a quick turn around just before crashing into the water and began chasing her again. Peri screamed involuntarily and began evasive maneuvers Vidia had taught her.

I'll never be able to make it on my own out here in the open, she thought. I have to make it to the clouds!

With renewed determination, Peri zipped through the air, the hawk snapping at her heels. After what seemed like hours, she made it, and gasped in the thick heavy air.

Keep flying, keep flying, she thought. Don't stop now!

She was breathing heavily from all the adrenaline, but finally the hawk fell behind. Peri slowed down and caught her breath. Cautiously, she poked her head through the clouds and looked around. No danger, only a beautiful aurora borealis. She rested for several minutes, enjoying the natural beauty as only a fairy can. Eventually, she had to continue her flight.

She had gotten a little off course during the chase, but in the distance, she saw a rosy pink, slowly rising sun. She readjusted, hoping to end up in England. An hour or so later, she reached the Mainland, but realized it was not England.

"Where am I?" she wondered aloud.

Looking down, she saw a small kingdom on the edge of a fjord, with high, snowy mountains behind it. At the moment it was completely isolated and frozen, though Peri was sure it was supposed to be summer over here.

Carefully, she flew down to the docks and walked in, making sure to hide her wings the best she could. Hopefully nobody would pay much attention her.

Of course she was wrong.

Almost immediately a tall man with red hair and thick sideburns came up to her.

"Here, child," he said kindly. "Take a cloak to warm yourself. It's ok," he said, seeing her startled expression. "You can trust me, the princess left me in charge."

"Oh, ok," Peri said, taking a green cloak and wrapping herself in it, even though she was never bothered by the cold.

"The castle is open and there is soup available if you need it."

"Thank you!" Peri said. "It's been awhile since I last ate."

The man laughed slightly. "I know how you feel. It's been too confusing to eat lately."

Peri waved goodbye and continued through the village, which she learned through snippets of conversation was called Arendelle, and the kind man in charge was Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. Most people ignored her, passing her off as a young human girl.

After awhile, Peri paused and adjusted her coat so she wouldn't get too warm. Suddenly she heard voices arguing in the alleyway behind her. Turning, she saw a young woman with short brown hair and a pink dress. Behind her was a man who liked a little like Hans, but with brown hair and a thinner face.

"It would be warm, you said," the man was saying. "It would be beautiful in summer, you said. Last time we honeymoon with any of your cousins."

"Eugene! It's not her fault!"

"Rapunzel, she caused all this snow."

Wait! Peri thought. There's a human who can cause snow to come? This I have to see!

"She's still learning to control her powers. They looked much more difficult to handle than mine were. You know my other cousin doesn't have powers. Other than extremely good archery skills."

"Oh no, we are not going to Scotland! Merida is even worse! She tried to shoot me last time we met."

"Eugene! You were playing with her best bow. You should have know better."

"Alright, alright. Fair enough. But when can we get out of here? It's freezing!"

"Yes, I noticed. But we can't get out of here until the fjord melts enough for the ships to leave. We can't exactly get to Corona on foot. If one could, than Aunt Eliza and Uncle Harold would still be here."

Suddenly Peri coughed and sank to the ground. The cloak was too warm and heavy, but she couldn't take it of without people getting suspicious. Immediately the woman, Rapunzel, ran over to her.

"Are you ok? Are you lost?"

"A little," Peri admitted. "I need to get some traveling food and supplies, then go the castle for some soup."

"You trying to go somewhere?" Eugene asked.

"I'm not going to tell strangers where I'm going," Peri said guardedly.

"Well, I'm Rapunzel," she said. "The cousin of Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. I want to help you if you're lost. I was once lost too, you know."

"I'm Periwinkle." She paused thoughtfully, then pointed toward the mountains. "I live in the mountains with my family and I'm trying to get back to them. But I want something to eat first."

"Naturally!" Rapunzel said with a smile. "Come with me."

"So...which princess caused the snow?" Peri asked. "I wasn't there when it happened."

"That would be Elsa," Eugene said. "Tall, pale platinum blonde hair that's a little like yours. I've been told she's a nice gal, but she was a little upset at the coronation party, and then she ran away to who know's where, and I haven't gotten to meet her yet. So far she's not all she's cracked up to be."

"Enough, Eugene," Rapunzel said firmly.

She's not here? Now I'll never be able to find her. "What about the other princess? Anna? Does she have powers?"

"No," Rapunzel said. "It skipped her for some reason. Actually nobody's sure why Elsa can make snow and ice in the first place."

"Maybe it's like your power," Eugene suggested. "Your Aunt Eliza drank something magical before Elsa was born."

"You have powers?" Peri asked.

"I did. See, I used to have long golden hair that had the power to heal any illness or injury. But it's gone now."

Peri could sense that there was more to the story, but Rapunzel didn't seem willing to share at the moment, so she didn't press. They reached the castle and Rapunzel ordered everything Peri needed to get "home" while she are soup. About an hour later, she was ready to go. She thanked Rapunzel, Eugene and Hans for their kindness, and set off. It was a shame she couldn't stay with them, but it was simply too dangerous. She couldn't hide the fact that she was a fairy forever.

For a long time she flew into the woods, not knowing or caring where she was going. Her tentative plan was to hide in the snowy mountains for awhile until she was well rested from her oversea journey. Then she would head to London, England and check in on Wendy Darling, a little girl whose music box Tink had fixed years ago, when she had first been born. Tinkerbell knew that's where her sister would wind up eventually, so that was their rendezvous point in case the Scout Fairies dropped Peri's charges.

At last Peri came to a mountain that looked like a nice isolated place to settle down for the next few days. But when she circle around she got a huge surprise: a huge ice castle rested comfortably on the mountain.

Elsa, Peri thought. Ok, change of plans.

She watched from behind a tree as a huge abominable snowman came out of the palace and threw out a young couple and...a small more friendly looking snowman. Both snowmen could speak, although the little one sounded more intelligent. Peri waited until the big snowman chased after the apparently unwelcome company, then slipped up to the doors of the ice palace.

She may not welcome me, either, she thought. But then again, I may be able to help learn how to control her powers.

Periwinkle took a big breath, and stepped inside. No going back now.


	3. Chapter 2: Frozone

"Hi Honey, I'm home."

Honey looked up from where she was fixing the salad. "Hello, sweetie."

Lucius, aka Frozone, set down his bags and kissed his wife. "The Ashton's are still coming over for supper?" he asked.

"Yes, so you'd better go and get ready."

Lucius laughed good naturedly but backed away, hands raised. "Alright, alright. I'm going."

Taking his bag with him, Lucius retreated to the bedroom. Quickly, he changed out of his formal business suit to a more comfortable blue sweater. Then, realizing he hadn't done so in a few days, shaved his scraggly beard. He was putting on aftershave when loud crashes, bangs, and screaming were heard from outside. Rushing to the window, he saw a large metal robot trashing the city and being chased by a helicopter. Time for a change in plans. Lucius ran back to his sock drawer and dug around for a remote control. He found it and, pointing it at the wall, opened a secret compartment where he kept his super suit.

Or at least where it was supposed to be.

"Honey?"

"What?"

"Where is my super suit?"

"What?" Honey called.

"WHERE. IS. MY. SUPER. SUIT?" Frozone yelled to be heard over the noise.

"Oh. I, uh, put it away."

"Where?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"I need it!" he called desperately.

"Nuh uh! Don't you think about running off doing no derrin'-do. We've been planning this dinner for two months!"

"The public is danger!" Lucius was panicking now.

"My evenin's in danger!" Honey protested.

"You tell me where my suit is, woman! We are talking about the greater good!"

"Greater good? I am your WIFE. I am the greatest GOOD you are ever gonna get!"

Lucius rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen as calmly as he could. Taking his wife by the shoulders, he stared into her honey brown eyes.

"Honey. I love you. I promise that I will try to defeat this evil and be home in time for a late supper. But if I don't go, the Ashton's could die before they even make it to this apartment!"

Honey raised an eyebrow. "You are making that up. What danger?"

"How can you not hear it?" Lucius yelled. "Follow me!"

He dragged her into the bedroom, despite her protests that the apple pie was almost done and she didn't want it to burn. She stopped abruptly at the window.

"Oh...My. Well it looks like you were telling the truth. You should probably get out there."

"Not without my super suit. Where is it?"

"Uh..."

"You didn't forget, did you?"

"Well, I think it's...um..."

"Tell me you didn't forget!"

"I didn't! I don't think. Um..." She shuffled around in her own drawers. "Not in here."

"You forgot!"

"No! I remember now! It's in the pantry behind the bag of flour."

"Oh great," Lucius grumbled as he ran to the pantry. "Now I'll have to be 'Flour Man!' Don't forget about the pie!"

Rummaging around in the pantry, however, produced no result. There was no suit.

"Honey?!"

"Try my pillow case!" Honey said as she pulled the pie from the oven and waved smoke out of her eyes. "Or maybe it's at Edna's?"

Lucius picked up the phone and dialed Edna's number. He shook the pillows upside down. "Come on, pick up!"

"Hello, this is Edna Mode..."

"E! Great! This is..."

"I am unavailable at the moment, designing heavenly clothes. You must call back so we can arrange a meeting. You must see them darling, they're wonderful! In the meantime..."

Lucius hung up with a groan.

"Try again!" Honey said. "Sometimes if you call twice in a row she'll stop sewing and answer."

Desperate, Lucius redialed the number. Almost immediately it was answered.

"Yes yes? What is it? This had better be important!"

"Edna! It's Lucius, and I..."

"No, no! I told you. I am not interested in this luscious business. I am a fashion designer!"

"Edna Mode, listen to me! It's Frozone! The superhero. Did Honey give you my super suit?"

"Why ever would she do that darling? I mean, your suit was one of my best works!"

"E..." Lucius began.

"It needs no fixing or remodeling as far as I know. However, since Bob got a new suit..."

"Edna."

"I can understand if you want a new one as well, but do you really need one?"

"EDNA!"

"What is it darling? You don't need to shout. That's the wonderful thing about phones you know."

"E, the city is being attacked and we can't find my suit. Now please hurry and tell me in a simple yes or no whether or not my suit is there."

"No."

"Ok, thanks E."

"No problem darling. But I thought I made it perfectly clear in the beginning, and..."

"Bye!" he said quickly, hanging up.

"Lucius, I found it!" Honey yelled.

"Yes!" He yelled, running to the door. "I don't even care where it was, just let me have it!"

Honey tossed it to him. "It was in the couch cushions."

"Well luckily it's elastic so it won't wrinkle," he said, quickly changing. "See ya!"

"Be safe!" Honey called after him. "Good thing the Ashton's already know you used to be a super..."

* * *

Frozone surfed along on his ice bridge. By this time the Omnidroid had moved deeper into the city, and although he could see the Incredibles fighting it, they needed more help. A cold breeze flew out of his hands, freezing the microscopic water droplets in front of him into the perfect consistency for his snowboard. He was closing in now.

Up ahead, he could see Mr. Incredible knock the robot to the ground. Frozone came in at full speed just as the robot was getting to his feet.

"Frozone!" Mr. Incredible called happily. "Yeah!"

Frozone froze the joints of the machine, hoping to momentarily incapacitate it, but it instantly shattered the ice and threw him on top of a car. That did not stop the super. He was back on his feet in an instant, making a new, curving bridge. Coming up unawares, Frozone tried to freeze the hands of the robot, but this too proved useless.

The robot began to fire into the city, and Frozone saw to his alarm that the Ashton's were cowering in their car in a side street. The gun blew out their tire, and the car went up in flames. Quickly, he dashed over and iced the whole car in one swoop, effectively putting out the fire. He melted it just as quickly, then opened the door and let them out.

"Go, go go!" He yelled as a loud crash sounded behind him.

The Ashton's nodded and fled. Turning, Frozone saw Bob lying on the ground next to one of the metal arms. On the other side of the robot, Dash had come out of hiding.

"Hey, Dad! Throw it, throw it!"

"Go long!" he yelled, throwing a tiny white object through the air.

Frozone saw the direction it was heading and immediately started sledding in that direction to help the boy. He watched in fascination as Dash began to run on water, catching it on the far side of the lake. Without slowing down, he kept running on dry land.

Boom!

A car exploded right in front of him. Dash changed directions, but another car was blasted. He stopped, unsure where to go next.

"Honey, take out its guns!" Mr. Incredible yelled to Mrs. Incredible.

Frozone kept on going, knowing that he was the only one close enough to help Dash, unless Violet had crept up on him. As Helen propelled a manhole cover with her elasticity and destroyed the robot's guns, Frozone swept into the burning car wreckage and picked up Dash.

"Whoa!" Dash yelled, panicked.

"Gotcha!" Frozone said reassuringly, swinging him onto his back. He carried Dash piggie back along the street, but the Omnidroid tucked away its legs, transforming into a giant bowling ball, and began rolling after them.

Frozone turned and began icing the lake, crossing the water in his own fashion. The ball unfolded back into a robot and leaped into the water, creating a giant wave that overwhelmed the ice path. Dash yelled in terror as he was thrown from Frozone's back. While still in the air, Frozone twisted and turned the wave into snow, spreading it so that Dash landed on a soft snowdrift.

The white object, whatever it was, had landed in the street some distance away. Mr. Incredible ran for it, but the metal beast fired its hand at him, blasting the super further up the street. The droid began advancing. Frozone didn't know what the thing was, but he knew they had to project it. Sliding smoothly up to the curb, he froze over the asphalt, causing the robot to slip dangerously. Mrs. Incredible stretched herself between two lamp posts, finally tipping it over.

Frozone helped Helen to her feet.

"You alright?" He asked.

"I'm fine, thanks."

They noticed the robot getting to its feet. Violet appeared underneath it and started running toward them.

"Violet!" Frozone said.

"Mom! I've got it! I got the remote."

"A remote?" Frozone asked, seeing the object in Vi's hands. "A remote that controls what?"

Violet didn't answer. The robot had gotten back on its feet and was again advancing. In desperation, she began pressing random buttons on the remote. Rocket jets fired from the feet, and the Omnidroid suddenly blasted into a nearby building.

"The robot?!" Frozone yelled with excitement.

The excitement was short lived, however, because it was already on its feet again.

"It's coming back!" Dash yelled, grabbing the remote from his sister and pushing a button. Vaguely, Frozone thought he heard someone yell behind him. "That wasn't right."

"Gimme that," Violet said.

"It's getting closer," Dash said panicked.

"It doesn't work!"

Helen took the remote away from the kids. "Lucius, try to buy us some time!"

Frozone raced towards the robot and built a tall but thin wall of ice. This time he used a direct spray from the hands, something he rarely did, to strengthen it. It didn't take much for to break through, but it was all he had. This thing was unstoppable!

"Press that button again!" he heard Mr. Incredible yelling. Then, a second later, "no, not that one, the other one! First one!"

"First button, got it!" Helen yelled. "Kids, get out of here!"

"We're not going anywhere!" Violet said defiantly. It seemed the robot fighting skills had given her some confidence.

"Press that button!" Mr. Incredible yelled.

"Not yet!"

Frozone sprayed a new wall, but the Omnidroid broke through it just as easily as before. "Helen!" he urged.

"What are you waiting for?" Bob asked.

"A closer target; you got one shot!"

Frozone was standing next to the family now; the robot was right on top of them. He could hear Dash's nervous, ragged breathing, a sharp contrast to his mother's calm, determined breaths. Violet seemed to have stopped breathing altogether. Finally, she pressed the button. The sound of a rocket's engines sounded from behind them.

"Everybody duck!" Mr. Incredible ordered.

Everyone turned and saw that he was holding the metal monster's hand and was struggling to hold it back. They ducked. Mr. Incredible let go, and the metal torpedo sped through the air and tore right through the robot.

With creaky and snapping, the Omnidroid fell into the lake, and exploded.

"Hey, Zone," Bob said, greeting his friend properly.

Frozone laughed, partly relieved, and partly enjoying the victory of a thrilling battle. All around them, people emerged from hiding, cheering and clapping.

"Just like old times," Frozone said.

"Just like old times," Mr. Incredible agreed, slapping Frozone on the back good naturedly.

"Uh!" He grunted and flexed his back. "Yep, hurt then too."

The city was safe.

* * *

The dinner went remarkably well, if not a little late. Honey had baked everything to perfection...except the apple pie. While it was not burned, it did taste a little smoky. But it did not matter to the Ashton's. They were grateful to be alive, and thanked Frozone over and over.

"Like I said, it's no problem," Lucius said. "I was just doing my… "

Suddenly he stopped. A cold ice wind was pulsing from his hands, yet it was not freezing the glass of water two inches in front of him.

"Lucius!" Honey exclaimed. "I told you, no powers in the house!"

"I'm not doing anything!" Frozone said, surprised at the outburst.

Mrs. Ashton tentatively put her hand in front of Frozone's. She automatically drew back, expecting her hand to be frozen over, but to her astonishment it was not. Again, she put her hand out.

"Why, it's not cold at all!" She said.

"It's like the power is going somewhere else," Frozone grunted, trying to stop the flow. "And I can't stop it!"

"What do you want me to do?" Honey asked, kicking into super wife mode.

"I don't know, call E, or Mr..."

Abruptly the wind stopped, and Lucius collapsed on the table, completely drained of energy.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Ashton asked.

"I'm...I'm fine," Lucius said, confused. "Look, I'm really sorry about this, but I have to go."

"But..." Honey began.

"No, it's fine," Mr. Ashton said. "We understand completely. See you all later."

The Ashton's left the apartment, leaving Lucius in the bedroom, hurriedly packing a bag.

"But where are you going?" Honey asked.

"I don't know. But something has happened, and I need to find out what! If you need anything, just contact the Incredibles. I'm calling Bob now to let him know what happened."

"When will you be back?" Honey asked quietly.

"I don't know," he sighed. "But I'll keep in touch." He zipped up the super backpack, always ready with emergency supplies, and shouldered it.

"You better call me every night, you hear?"

"Yes ma'am!" Lucius said, saluting. He kissed her goodbye. "I love you."

"Love you, too," Honey said.

With one last smile, Frozone turned and walked out of the house into the unknown, determined to find out what had just happened to him.


	4. Chapter 3: Elsa

Elsa paced the floor anxiously, rubbing her hands together as she felt slightly chilled for the first time in her life.

"Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel. Don't feel, don't feel."

Elsa collapsed on the floor of her ice castle in a lonely heap and broke into sobs. She had just turned away her sister. Again. Even worse, she had forced her away by creating a huge violent monster. Was that what she was becoming now? A violent person?

She heard a cracking nearby and looked up. The ice had turned red and sharp icicles pointed outwards from the wall. Her beautiful palace now felt more like a prison than a place of freedom.

I have to calm down before things get worse, she thought.

"Hello?" a voice asked timidly, echoing through the icy halls

Elsa froze. She didn't know where the snowman was, and she didn't want to be violent again. Quietly, she got up and crept to the stairs. A small pale girl with white hair stood by the fountain, admiring the frozen water droplets suspended in mid air.

"Silvermist would love this," she whispered aloud. Then she noticed Elsa. "Oh! Hello!"

A blast of ice flew from Elsa's hands in her surprise. The girl ducked and Elsa's hand flew to her mouth in horror.

"I'm so sorry! You have to leave, right now or you're...wait, what?" Elsa stared at the girl. She had a tuft of pure white hair and filmy wings. "What are you?"

The girl, whether or not she was human, floated over and extended a hand. Elsa took it cautiously. "My name's Peri, short for Periwinkle. I'm a Winter Frost Fairy."

She demonstrated by tapping the wall nearest to them. It instantly coated with beautiful frost patterns. Elsa gasped.

"You can make snow!"

"Well, I specialize in frost, but I can do a little snow if I want." She noticed the inlaid snowflake in the floor. "Elsa, did you do this?"

"Yes," Elsa replied hesitantly. "How did you know my name?"

"I ran into your cousin Rapunzel in town. And Hans. They didn't know I was a fairy, but they told me what happened. I couldn't resist. I must say, I've never seen a human able to make snow before. It's fascinating!"

"You'd be the first," Elsa muttered, wandering out to the balcony.

"Yeah, I take it nobody else is too happy about this," Peri said, following.

"Nobody has! Not even my parents. Even before Anna got hurt they were scared. Now I see they had a reason. I've put everyone in danger because I can't control my powers." She stopped, not knowing why she was telling her life story to a complete stranger, and a fairy at that. "Are you real?" she asked suddenly, chaining the subject.

"Completely," she answered. "I live in Pixie Hollow with other fairies. We only come to the mainland to change the seasons. I'm only here now because…"

"Because I made a mess of the weather?" Elsa interrupted bitterly. "It's mid-July and everyone is freezing to death."

"Well, it's not your fault. If they told you to keep it in, then you never got a chance to practice."

"Can you help me?" Elsa asked suddenly. "I've frozen my whole country and I don't know how to control my powers."

"I can try. Basically you just need practice. Show me what you can do, and don't be afraid."

Before she could begin, however, the giant snowman came back. When he saw Periwinkle, he roared and charged her.

"No!" Elsa cried. "I don't want to get rid of her."

"She stay?"

"Yes. This is Peri."

"My name's Marshmallow!" the snowman said proudly.

"Marshmallow?" the girls asked.

"Little snowman brother named me," Marshmallow explained. "Mama like?"

Elsa smiled. "I love it. Peri's going to help me practice snow now. Can you go back outside and make sure nobody else comes in?"

"Ok," Marshmallow said as he lumbered back.

Elsa and Peri giggled. "He's like a big, grumpy puppy," Peri said.

"Yeah," Elsa said. "Makes sense. He's only been alive for five minutes."

All through the evening Peri worked with Elsa, as they experimented with snow, ice and frost. Elsa felt exhausted; she hadn't used her powers at this extent for this length of time since she was a little girl. Finally, she asked Peri if they could take a short break. Peri agreed.

"I don't want to push you," she said.

"So, why are you here? How did you find me? Am I in trouble?"

"No. We fairies don't watch every city to make sure the weather's behaving properly. I don't think anyone at Pixie Hollow knows about this yet. I'm here because...I'm an outcast. See, the Hollow has different woods for each season. Winter fairies have to stay in the Winter Woods so they don't overheat. Even the Autumn Woods are too warm for us. But my sister is a warm weather fairy, and long story short we crossed the borders to see each other. Now the Scout Fairies are trying to arrest me."

"You have a sister?" Elsa asked softly.

Periwinkle nodded. "Her name is Tinkerbell, but everyone just calls her Tink. We were born from the same baby's laugh. She's a tinker fairy. It means she works with objects that wash up on our shore and makes machines. She's really good at it. But I had to leave her to escape imprisonment."

"I know how that feels," Elsa said wistfully.

The fairy waited patiently. Sighing, Elsa went on to tell her story, about how after Anna had been hurt, she had stayed away from her. They nearly reconnected at the coronation party, but Elsa had gotten scared and had shut up again.

"So...you spent years of not using your powers in hopes of learning to control them?" Peri asked.

"It didn't work," Elsa said.

"I kind of noticed."

They were working on target practice when a huge roar from Marshmallow interrupted. A loud commotion ensued.

Elsa looked up worriedly. "I'm going to go see what that's about. Just to make sure it's not Anna."

"Ok, I'll wait here."

Elsa ran lightly down the stairs, her heels clicking daintily on the ice. There was a lot of yelling, enough to make her nervous. Cautiously, she cracked open the door and peeked out. Almost instantly she recognized the devilishly handsome stranger who had captured her naive sister's heart. Prince Hans. And he had come with an army. Two more suspicious looking men saw her and snuck around her guard. Elsa backed away quickly, but it was too late. She fled up the stairs, closely followed by the scoundrels as the palace once more changed colors. Now it was a yellow.

"Peri! They're here. The mob, they've come to kill me!"

"Whoa, calm down! Don't loose control, and don't turn your back on them. Self defense, remember?"

The men burst in, and Peri shrunk into the shadows, having nothing to hide her wings with. Startled, Elsa turned to face them, and watched as one aimed a crossbow at her.

"No, please!"

She put her hands in front of her in frightened surrender. The bow fired. But there was no pain. She looked up. A millimeter from her forehead was the sharp tip of the arrow; the rest was embedded in a fresh ice shard. Realizing how close she had been to death, Elsa went into high alert, remembering what Peri had said about self defense. Her eyes tracked the men, who were moving quickly around the little wall.

"Stay away!" she commanded, sending forth a warning shot. She winced, still unused to purposefully putting people in danger. She didn't want to do this.

But she quickly got used to it when she realized they wouldn't back off from idle threats. Eventually the guards stood on either side of her, neither ready to fire nor making any attempt to do so. Her head flashed left to right, and as soon as one made a move, she sent sharp icicles to pin him against the wall. One slowly advanced towards his throat. A motion from the other, out of a corner of her eye, and she sent a blast in that direction, knocking the bow from his grasp. Peri ran from her hiding place, seeing how lethal Elsa's ice was getting.

"Elsa, don't hurt them," she pleaded.

Elsa didn't listen. She hemmed him in, then formed a huge ice cube that advanced towards the poor fellow. Glaring in concentration as the man pushed back, she broke open the doors to the balcony through sheer will power.

"Elsa, no!" Peri cried.

Elsa didn't even hear this time. She would not be controlled by fear. It didn't scare her that this man would fall to his certain doom and death. How dare he mess with her? She was the Snow Queen! All the powers of ice and snow obeyed her!

"Queen Elsa!" Hans said, running into the room. "Don't be the monster they fear you are."

This stopped her. She gasped at the realization of what she was doing, what she had been thinking. Snow Queen? Monster was more like it. She turned to Peri, silently asking what she should do. But the little fairy didn't answer. In fact, she wasn't even looking.

Periwinkle stared at her hands in disbelief. They glowed blue, and frost shot out of them, disappearing in thin air directly in front of her, through no control of her own, Elsa could see. Then Elsa realized that the same thing was happening to her own hands, only it was snow instead of frost. She screamed in alarm, not realizing that this further convinced the soldiers that she had no control of her powers and should be killed.

"They both have powers!" one of the new men exclaimed.

Hans looked at confusion as Peri, beginning to recognize her from the village. Peri pleaded an apology with her eyes, unable to say anything under his guilty glaze. But Hans looked away at the guard Elsa had trapped in icicles, then up at the chandelier.

Suddenly he dashed over to the guard and raised his arm so that the arrow fired into the chandelier.

All eyes looked up as the chandelier began to fall. Elsa grabbed Peri and darted out of the way, their hands still glowing and spewing ice and snow. Before they knew what was happening they were enveloped in a blinding white light. Elsa stopped running when the environment suddenly changed. It was warmer, and there was a general loud noise and chaos all around. The loudest noise drew her attention from right behind her. She turned and saw something racing towards them, and fast. There was no time to move or react properly. They were going to die.

Elsa screamed.


	5. Chapter 4: Frozone

Chapter Four: Frozone

Lucius wandered through the streets of Philadelphia, not entirely sure what he should to next. Ever since he left home, it seemed like something had been pulling him north. But now there was nothing guiding him, so he stayed put. He was just starting to get hungry when the strangest thing he and ever seen happened.

As a superhero, Frozone had seen a lot of strange things. The past few days had been even stranger. But nothing was more surprising than seeing two girls appear with no warning in the middle of a busy Philadelphia road.

The girls looked around and screamed in fright as a car came barreling toward them. Instantly, Frozone stuck his hand out, and an ice bridge, covered with snow for traction, appeared over them. The SUV rumbled over it shakily, but otherwise there was no harm done.

"Stay there!" Frozone yelled. "Don't move!"

"Ok!" the younger girl said.

Carefully, he made his way over to them. The older girl, who looked like she was in her late teens, was still panicking. She turned to the other one.

"You're the expert on magic, Peri! What happened?"

"I don't know, this is new." Peri looked around curiously.

"Just stay calm," Frozone said, reaching them. "We're going to that sidewalk over there."

"A what?" the older one asked.

"Follow me."

He created an ice staircase over to the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Shocked, both girls stared at him for a second. Then another vehicle raced over the bridge and they ran up. Frozone followed, melting the car bridge when he was safely up the stairs. He joined the girls where they had collapsed panting on the sidewalk.

"Is it safe here?" the older one asked, wincing every time a car sped by.

"Yes…" Frozone was very confused. It seemed like they had never been in a city or even seen a car before. "I'm Frozone, by the way. I'm a superhero."

"I'm Peri, and this is Elsa," the younger girl said, getting to her feet and pressing her back up against the wall. "What's a superhero?"

"Someone who has special powers, like you."

"Um…"

"You have wings."

Peri winced. "I was trying to hide them."

"Don't worry, I'll help you with that."

"You can control ice?" Elsa asked shakily.

"Yeah. Who do you think protected you with that bridge?" The girls pointed at each other.

"So you both can create ice? Ok, that's new. I've never met anyone else with the same powers as me."

"Neither have we," Peri said. "We just met each other today…wait a minute. It's daylight! It was night awhile ago."

Frozone bit his lip, wondering if she was suffering some sort of amnesia. "Come on, let's get something to eat. That should calm your nerves."

"Is there some place we can go where there aren't any people?" Elsa asked nervously.

"Not in a city," Frozone said with a laugh. "There's a McDonald's a few blocks away. It's crappy food, I know. But I'm a little short on cash and I've still got a long way to go." The feeling he should head north was back.

"What is this place?" Elsa asked.

"You don't know where you are?"

"No," Peri said. "Look, we were just magically pulled from one place to the other. Ice flew out of our hands, then suddenly we were here."

"Wait, ice came out of your hands but you weren't controlling it?"

"Yes, and then we were here, where it's broad daylight and there's so much noise and fast moving…things."

"Let me ask you a question. If you don't have cars where you're from, then how do you get around?"

"I'm a fairy. We fly."

"We walk, or ride horses," Elsa said. "There are these new things called carriages, but I've never seen one before."

"You're telling me you've just been pulled to the future."

"We don't know!" Elsa cried, hugging herself. Despite the cold, windy air, beads of sweat started to form on her brow.

"Elsa, calm down," Peri said softly.

"One last question, are you guys having this strange desire to go north? Like that's where all the answers will be?"

Peri's eyes widened. "Ever since I got here. How did you know? Elsa, are you getting this, too?"

Elsa nodded and Frozone sighed. "Ok then. Let's eat and then get moving. But first, your wings. Can they handle the cold?"

"I'm a Winter Fairy," Peri explained. "I need the cold to survive."

"Then ice them over with a thin layer of ice. Should be enough to disguise them, and to the untrained eye, maybe it'll look like one piece of ice on your back."

"That's still suspicious," Elsa said. "And so am I. I'm in an ice dress."

"Nobody's going to notice a thing. Hopefully." He paused for a minute, spotting a Walmart store nearby. "But maybe we'll get you a cape or something, just in case. How old are you?"

"Three." Elsa and Frozone looked at her in shock. "In human years at least. I'm twelve seasons old."

"Ok…" Frozone shook his head, trying to clear it. "But you like like you're about nine or ten. A very small one, so say whatever size eight year old kids wear. I'll go get you something to wear while you wait here in this alley. I take it you can defend yourselves?"

"Elsa can," Peri said.

"Well, I don't think…" Elsa began.

"Perfect. Stay here." Frozone jogged down the street.

* * *

Half an hour later, both Peri and Elsa, dressed in modern clothes, had their very first cheeseburger. The clothes didn't really fit them that well, but Frozone said it was enough to pass them by as normal. Peri wore some baggy grey sweat pants and a thin blue sweater over her frosted leaf dress that perfectly hid her wings. Elsa now had a heavy black coat from Target and some normal looking shoes that still somewhat went with her dress. It was all Frozone could afford.

"I have a feeling we'll need to buy some plane tickets," he said as he brought the food to their table. "We're not nearly as far north as we need to be."

"What's a plane?" Peri asked eagerly.

Just then a passenger plane flew by, evidently landing at the nearby airport, and from their window seat they could see it perfectly. Frozone pointed at it, his mouth full of burger.

"No," Elsa said firmly. "I can't get on one of those."

"You'll be fine," Frozone said. "It's perfectly safe." Elsa tentatively picked up her cheeseburger and bit into it. "Well, what do you think about it?"

"It's very…interesting. I don't love it, but I'll eat it."

"I like these the best," Peri said, holding up a fry. "I want the recipe so I can make them for the other fairies when I get home!"

"Keep your voice down," Frozone warned. "People are going to think we're crazy."

Peri giggled. "We are crazy."

"Well, crazier than we already are," he amended.

"So, what's the plan from here?" Elsa asked, changing the subject.

"Catch a plane and head as far north as possible. So far north it seems insane and without reason."

Incredulous, Elsa raised an eyebrow. "We're going to go to an insane, unknown to us, north location because we feel like it?"

Frozone shrugged. "What else are we supposed to do?"

She pursed her lips. "It could be a trap."

"Quite possibly. But we can take care of ourselves. Don't you think, Peri?"

Peri was staring out the window, deep in thought. "How are we going to catch a plane?" she asked, dead serious.

"It's just an expression," Frozone explained, laughing. "We'll go to an airport, that's a place where a lot of people go to get on a lot of different planes going to a lot of different places."

"I can't do that," Elsa said shortly. "Too many people. It's unsafe."

"Walking or driving isn't going to be fast enough," Frozone insisted.

But Elsa shook her head frantically. "Elsa's still learning to control her powers," Peri explained softly. "I think…maybe she's right. A plane might be too dangerous for everyone."

Anxiously, Frozone bit his lip. "In that case, we need to get a rental car. We can't go on foot."

"Right, then," Elsa said suddenly, getting to her feet. "Let's move. I've been in one place for too long."


	6. Chapter 5: Jack

Author's Note: first of all, thank you to eeryone who has followed and favorited! Since the last chapter was so short and this chapter was so much fun to write, I'm posting both of them today. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Five: Jack

"Hey, Bunny! Why was Pitch such a good dancer?"

"Pitch never danced," Bunny said, refusing to look up at Jack's fifteenth attempt to make him laugh that hour. He took out his boomerangs and polished them, hoping the gesture was threatening. "Trust me, I was there."

"It's a joke. Geez, what are you? A funeral director or a cheerful Easter Kangaroo?"

Bunny gritted his teeth. "Easter Bunny," he corrected.

"Whatever!" Jack flew towards him, hanging upside down and getting right in his face, so he was forced to see him. "Why was Pitch such a good dancer? Say why."

"Why?"

"Cause he was the Boogie Man!"

Laughing, Jack flipped in midair.

"Ha. Ha. When are you gonna get a place of your own, kid? All the Guardians have a place, now it's your turn."

"No clue," Jack said cheerfully. "I'd much rather be on my own, not tied down to any one place, you know? And anyway, I don't know how to build mine. Got any idea?"

"Completely soundproof and...inescapable," Bunny said dryly.

"Ha ha. Well, I guess staying here and pranking you guys is more fun anyway."

Bunny narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he took out his last boomerang. "Whadd'ya mean, prank...?"

He stopped there, however, when he realized his paw was stuck. Alarmed, he tried to shake it off, but ice suddenly shot out and covered his entire arm.

"FROST!" he bellowed as Jack shot down the hallway, barely able to fly straight as he laughed hard.

He burst into North's office breathlessly. "Got anywhere I can hide for a an hour or two?" he asked, grinning.

North looked down at him disapprovingly. "You really have to stop pranking Bunny like that," he said. "Especially since he knows all the good hideouts at the Pole." Jack's face fell as he heard ice shatter in the other room. "But I suppose you can follow Phil. I spotted some people walking across the tundra. They weren't equipped for the cold so I sent Phil to collect them."

"Thanks!" Jack said hurriedly, opening the window hatch and speeding out.

In the distance, he could see a large, brown, furry shape that he knew must be his favorite yeti. As he grew closer, he saw the small group of people huddled together, apparently out of fear, not cold. There was a middle aged, African-American man, a teenage girl who looked only slightly older than Jack, and a young girl who looked about ten. All of them wore light clothing, as if it were winter in Florida. Definitely not what Jack expected mortals to wear to the arctic.

Phil waved his hands around in a friendly, welcoming gesture, which terrified the girl almost to a faint. Jack hurried to their side.

"It's ok," he said quickly. "He's just saying 'Hello, come inside for cookies and chocolate.'"

Then he realized that the mortals probably couldn't see him and what he said wouldn't help. But the three strangers stared a him, a feeling Jack still wasn't used to.

"Are we at the North Pole?" the little girl asked timidly.

The older girl swayed in the wind and looked sick, like she was about to faint. Phil quickly stepped toward her, but she backed away and shook her head.

"Uh, yes," Jack continued, slightly distracted. An idea began to form, one that quickly took hold. "I'm Jack Frost."

The man's mouth dropped open. "I'm Peri, this is Elsa and Frozone," the youngest girl said. "Jamie told us about you."

"North Pole?" Elsa confirmed, voice trembling.

Jack nodded; girls who looked like him and didn't mind the cold? No, it couldn't possibly be…

"EVERYBODY DUCK!" Elsa screamed, her silvery voice echoing across the wastelands.

Instinctively, without question, everyone hit the ground, and a massive ice wave exploded from Elsa's chest in all directions. Jack had never seen ice come from one person in that great amount. Even when he had defeated Pitch after Sandy was killed, he hadn't used as much as Elsa let loose now. After a few seconds, the wave stopped, and she collapsed onto Phil. Gently, the yeti picked her up and started walking back to the workshop.

"Why don't you come inside," Jack said graciously.

Excitedly, he flew above them. Mortals that could control ice? Aww yes! This was almost too much to process. He couldn't wait to hear their story.

Once inside, Bunny took over Elsa's care, and a few minutes later they were all sitting around a blazing fire, sipping hot tea. North let them sit for awhile so they could calm their nerves. Frozone was especially shaken; apparently he hadn't really believed in the legends and had been shocked out of skepticism by Phil the yeti. And with Elsa still weak from her meltdown, it was up to Periwinkle, a fairy, to tell the tale.

Not a word was spoken and hardly a breath breathed as the Guardians (and yetis) listened. Her voice was light and airy, and as she spun the tale, her words seemed woven together, forming a silver, delicate tapestry of mystery. As she spoke, Peri demonstrated her powers on North's old shoe, covering it in a ball of frost. Finally, after a humorous account of adjusting to modern life, she explained how thy had met Jamie, Jack's first believer, in Burgess, Pennsylvania. He saw right through their disguises and realized they could create ice. So he directed them to the North Pole, and eventually they had made it.

A heavy silence followed the end of her narrative.

"Any idea how we got here?" Peri ventured after nearly a minute.

"Jack," North said deeply.

"Hmm? What'd I do?"

"When Pitch stranded you in Antarctica, you fixed your staff. A magical staff, broken by powerful dark magic, can only be fixed by a powerful magic. The magic in you alone was not enough. You three, you said you felt a pull and watched the ice to from your hands and disappear into thin air?"

"Yes, sir," Peri said. The other two simply nodded.

"It must have gone straight from your hands to Jack's staff. That pull across time must have pulled you girls right alone with it. Though how exactly...I cannot say."

There was another long moment of silence as they tried to wrap their minds around the whole thing.

"What now?" Elsa asked, her voice still shaky. "Do you know how we can get back?"

"Not at the moment," North said.

"You can't leave yet!" Jack said simultaneously. "You're the first mortals to ever have the powers to use ice and snow. I'm not letting you out of my sight till I know what you can do! You HAVE to show me!"

"No," Elsa said immediately. "No more snow. That was too dangerous."

Peri frowned. "The reason you did that was because you held it back for almost two weeks! It had been building up in you, and then KABAM! It just all came out at once. You need to use it more often."

"I think Peri's right," Jack said.

He grabbed his staff and flew straight toward Elsa, picking her up around the waist and flying out the window. Screaming, Elsa squirmed in his arms until he dropped her in a snowdrift. Jack landed a few feet away, grinning ear to ear. Before Elsa could stand and brush herself off, she was hit with a snowball.

A magic snowball. One that had the power to make even the grumpiest people be happy and have fun.

Elsa was extremely surprised. She blinked, then smirked back at him. With one, swift motion, she raised her arms over her head, and a huge snowball nearly the size soccer ball hit Jack's chest dead on. He crashed backwards with a muffled 'oof!' He lay there, the wind knocked out of him, inwardly laughing. Suddenly Elsa's face appeared above them, the picture of pure panic.

"Jack! Are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine!" he assured her. "That was great! Let's do it again."

"No."

She turned and walked away, hugging herself tightly, though Jack knew she wasn't cold. Even his magic snowball HADN'T worked? Man, this girl was a turning out to be a very complicated puzzle.

"Why not?" he asked bluntly.

"Because..." She bit her lip anxiously. "I could seriously hurt you and I don't want to hurt anyone. Why do you think I didn't use my powers while we came up here?"

"Aww, you would never hurt anyone." But her guilty face told him she had. "Not on purpose," he added more gently. "Besides, you can't hurt me. Because of our powers, we can't be hurt by ice or snow. Well, as far as we know," he added, throwing a snowball at Peri.

Peri squealed and instantly retaliated. Elsa quickly stepped back as the snowball fight grew into a frenzy, even with just two players.

"Come on, Elsa!" Peri called, gently throwing a snowball at her.

"That's not how you snowball fight!" Jack said, throwing another one at her.

"Guys!" Elsa protested sharply, holding up her hands and unintentionally making a smooth ice shield. They stopped, afraid they'd gone too far. "THIS..." She dropped the shield and raised her hands over her head, and the biggest snowball she'd ever created appeared. It was massive, the size of a yeti's head. "…is how you snowball fight."

Periwinkle dove behind Jack as the snowball barreled through the air and hit both of them at the same time, burying them in a deep snowdrift. In spite of himself, Frozone laughed.

"Us against them?" Elsa suggested.

"Sure, why not?"

"It's me and Frozone versus you and Peri, Jack!" Elsa called as Jack emerged.

"Oh, it's on!"

Instantly, the air came alive in a flurry of snowballs in all shapes and sizes. Once Jack was hit with a snow robot from Frozone, and Elsa was struck by a snow tree from Peri. Not long into the game, Frozone realized that Jack and Peri were flying over their heads to get better aim and avoid the missiles.

"Hey! These teams are unfair! The fliers can't be on the same team!"

"Girl's versus boys!" Peri shouted, turning on Jack and pelting him.

"Traitor!" Jack teased, aiming his staff at her.

With a squeal, Peri flew down to Elsa's side and helped her ward off Frozone. After another furious volley, Jack decided that they needed some better protection, a good old-fashioned snowball fort.

"Hey, Frozone! Cover me!"

"You got it, man!"

Quickly, Jack ran around in the snow tracing a star with his staff. Then he flew up so he could see the whole thing directly above him. He moved the snow from the inside of the star to make walls surrounding the outside. When it was finished he and Frozone leapt in, and Jack looked out in triumph at the girls.

To his surprise, Elsa looked amused. She eyed it critically, and winked at Peri. Before Jack could think, the girls rose in the air on a platform of nearly packed snow. Thick walls and towers swirled into being, and the star-shaped battle fort became feeble and minuscule in the shadow of the medieval castle. On the ramparts stood the Snow Queen, manning a fully functional snow canon that shot snowballs.

For a moment neither side did anything, both taking in Elsa's latest masterpiece. Then the canon deluge started, and the boys were nearly buried instantly. With a clear head, Frozone created a frosty dome over their heads, though they knew it wouldn't last long under the steady, harsh barrage. Jack whistled appreciatively.

"Dude, did you know she could do that?"

"No, she mostly kept to herself," Frozone said, fixing a hole where a ball had pierced through. "Through the whole two weeks that I've known her, I've never seen her use her powers. Not till today."

"That's powerful stuff. I think it's time to surrender."

"You kidding? You never back down from an enemy that looks stronger than you. If the Americans had done that in the revolutionary war..."

"Hey, man, chill. It's just a snowball fight. A game, remember?" Jack dodged another stray snowball. "It's not like your superhero/super-villain wars."

"Ok, ok. Guess you're right. Besides, I'd like to call my wife. Do you guys have cell service up here? Or phones?"

"Again, you're at the North Pole, Santa's Workshop. North makes anything. You can call your wife."

"Great! Now how do we get out of here? We can't exactly throw up a white flag of surrender. They won't be able to see it in this mess. Geez! How does she keep going like that?"

Jack thought for a moment, then made a strong double ice shield that would cover both of them so they could get to the castle. He figured they could break in underneath the canon's range, and be able to keep out of range till the girl's could hear them.

The plan worked...until they broke through the castle gates. It seemed the girls thought his was not a move of peace and surrender, but a move of attack. From the battlements, Elsa created a twisting labyrinth, with only one path leading to her, and half the tunnels with no roof. Periwinkle was sent down to attack and keep them away, while she manned the canon (which of course could swivel around with ease) and prevented Jack from flying out of the open tunnels.

That was fun, and the boys' plan changed back to offensive. Their main objective now was to capture the Ice Queen and force her to surrender and call off her angry pixie guard. Who, by the way, loved chasing them down the tunnels, changing the pathways, and making more dead ends. On the other hand, Jack and

Frozone loved to throw her off their scent.

The battle went on for another half hour, when at last Jack managed to take out the canon and Frozone was able to subdue Peri. This much made Elsa surrender, and the victory went to the boys. The four of them lay laughing and panting on the ramparts, each secretly planning strategies for the next game.

"I say we go in and have some hot chocolate," Frozone suggested. "And we need to start thinking about how to get home."

"Great idea," Jack said. "Except for the thinking part. I say after we recover, we switch up the teams and have another round. Bunny and North can come, too!"

"Are they protected by the ice, too?" Elsa asked eagerly.

"Hmm? Oh, no. But I think they'll be fine."

It was incredible, and terrifying, how fast Elsa's mood changed. One second she's having fun, completely unworried about her powers, and the next she holes herself up again.

"No. I'm not playing with them," Elsa said firmly.

Jack and Frozone exchanged confused glances; Peri, however, seemed unsurprised.

"Elsa," she said gently. "You can't let fear rule your life. We talked about this. What happened to An..."

"Leave me alone," Elsa said bitterly, rising to her feet.

Without another word, she jumped over the ramparts and landed on a snowlike a few feet below. The others watched in stunned silence as she ran in the opposite direction of North's workshop.

"Let her be," Peri advised as Jack got to his feet to follow. "I expect she needs alone time after being with people 24/7 over the past two weeks."

"She's introverted?" Frozone asked.

Peri shook her head, confused. "I don't know what that means, exactly. But she's used to being on her own. Come on, lets get some hot chocolate. Elsa will follow us in eventually."

"Especially when she hears the wolves," Jack joked. "You guys head on without me. I forgot, I have to...deliver snow to Russia."

"Russia's got plenty of snow," Frozone said wryly. "Go give some to Metropolis. They'd LOVE it this early in the year."

"Ok," Jack said with a grin. "I'll keep that in mind."

With a bound, he shot directly into the sky, and hovered in the cloud layer for a moment. Frozone was right, Russia had plenty of snow. Jack had just sent a fresh batch over the whole county last night, and he had no intention of going again today. Instead, he waited until Peri and Frozone were safely back inside, then flew back down again. Flying low to the ground, he followed Elsa's footprints.

It was really easy, especially when Elsa realized she didn't want to get lost. She grew an ice trees on either side of her path, and though they were grown in a hurry, they were still beautiful. A sycamore towered over the others, competing with a study oak tree in a height contest. Delicate pine needles clinked gently against each other, and several already lay shattered on the ground. But overall, maples and willows seemed to be Elsa's favorites.

At the end of the avenue, Jack was not surprised to find, a huge ice castle. This was massive, and much sturdier and well thought out than the snow fort. Jack crossed a flat bridge, which seemed to have no purpose, curling his toes and enjoying the smoothness as he walked. He passed into the massive towers and incredibly thick walls into the courtyard, which frozen ice fountains decorated. It was a perfect ice skating rink, but Jack resisted. He continued into the keep, and spent nearly an hour wandering through spacious ballrooms, a grand dining room, a library, a huge spiral staircase, completely empty and lifeless rooms with no furniture, and long hallways before he finally found Elsa.

She was sitting quietly on a bed made of snow, with patterns of ice. Across the room was another, similar bed, and toys and books were stacked nearly around the room. In her hands she held a stiff doll, and traced its features longingly.

With a sudden flash, Jack realized this was where Elsa grew up. The whole thing she had built from memory, and the empty rooms must have been the ones she never saw but knew were there. And this was her bedroom.

"Are you a princess?" he asked, immediately regretting it. Dumb thing to say when you invade someone's privacy intending to ask if they're alright.

"Yes," Elsa said, not even jumping at the sound of his voice.

Awkwardly, Jack sat on the bed across from her, but Elsa glared at him, almost protectively. Even more confused, he stood up again, thinking.

The way Elsa was so careful with her powers, her guilty face when Jack told her she wouldn't hurt anyone, the sadness in her eyes as she looked between the doll and the other bed...it all made sense now.

"You had a sister," he said quietly.

Elsa dropped the doll, which shattered on the floor, and buried her face in her hands, choking back sobs. Realizing she didn't know about Guardians or how to become one, Jack sat next to her and told her his story.

"I had a sister once, too. See, I'm a Guardian. I'm immortal. But too become a Guardian, you need to prove you're worthy. I had a sister, Emma, when I was human. We loved goofing off: climbing trees, exploring the forest in our area, and ice skating in the winter. Only one day...I misjudged the thickness."

Elsa looked up, interested and concerned.

"She was caught on cracking, fragile part. I nearly didn't get her out in time. I did, but it cost me my life. Anyway, that sacrifice convinced the moon to bring me back to life to become a Guardian. The point is, I understand, somewhat, about having a sister, and putting her in danger." He stopped, unsure where to go from there, but Elsa spoke almost immediately, drying her tears.

"Anna and I were best friends when we were little. We liked to sneak out at night and play with my magic in the ballroom. Then one night...she jumped from my hill and she fell. I tried to save her but I accidentally hit her in the head."

She paused, breathing deeply and trying not to panic at the memory. Nevertheless, frost crept up the wall in alarming patterns. Patiently, Jack waited.

"We took her to some trolls," she finally managed.

Jack smiled in spite of himself. So THAT was why she had seen him so easily. She already believed in magical beings like trolls, then met a fairy. Why shouldn't she believe in Jack Frost when Jamie told them he was real?

"The trolls healed her, but removed all memories of magic. She didn't know I had powers. I was told not to use them, and since emotions triggered them, I was not to feel anything. Apparently this had been prearranged by my parents and the trolls. When they discovered I had ice powers they were advised to let me use them and learn to control them. Then Anna was born, and my mom was afraid I would hurt her, but let us play until that happened."

"How'd that work out?" Jack asked.

"Not good. I hid myself from Anna, even got a mew room, until I could learn to control it. But I never could. Almost every day she would knock on my door, singing and begging me to play with her again. I hated it. But the magic grew stronger, and I went with my parents plan. Do you know how much I had to resist opening that door?"

"No. I bet it was a lot."

"You literally died for your sister. A part of my died every day, listening to her knock. I dreaded its coming, and I hated listening to it, but I was scared that one day she would stop. She did, when she was around 13. The last time Anna knocked was after our parents' funeral."

"I won't say I'm sorry," Jack said. "Because I know that doesn't cover it."

Elsa didn't say a word, she simply nodded in appreciation. They sat together in silence, watching the evening sky. Of course, it looked exactly the same as it had for the past few weeks: a misty twilight. The sun wouldn't fully rise until late March, which was still a few weeks away.

"When we had the snowball fight, you controlled your powers perfectly," Jack ventured at last. "Heck, you made a fully weaponized canon, out of snowed to fire snowballs."

"Actually, it was mostly made of ice."

"Well, I couldn't actually see that because I was blinded by the functionabilty of your weapon." Elsa laughed, for the first time in who knows long.

"The point is," he continued, "You live your own life now, you don't need to follow your parents' rules. They were meant to help you, but they weren't working. The truth is, you can do whatever you like with your powers...as long as you believe you can."

"I don't know if that's possible," Elsa said sadly.

"Well, even if you don't, I believe you can. Honestly, after all the things I've seen you do today, I find it positively ludicrous that you don't."

Elsa stared at him. Obviously nobody had ever spoken that bluntly to her before about her powers. For a moment Jack was afraid he had pushed too far again. But then, miraculously, she smiled.

"Thank you, Jack," she said, smiling.


	7. Chapter 6: Peri

**Author's Note: I'm alive! #notdead Sorry for leaving you guys so long, but I've been gone all summer. But I am back now, and in writing mode! You can expect a ton of updates within the next 2-3 weeks.**

* * *

Chapter Six: Peri

Peri supposed that, for North, it was a gentle knock. But because of her small stature and size of the room (lent to her by the elves), it was more like a thunder clap that shook her to the bones. She instantly flew out of bed and to the door, throughly rattled.

"Yes?" she asked, annoyed. But all aggregation and thoughts of sleeping in, vanished at North's serious face. Something was wrong.

"Trouble at Tooth Palace," he said. "I've just received a distress call. Come on."

Peri followed him through the maze of hallways and workshops until they reached the sleigh room. The reindeer had already been hitched up, and the other passenger's had taken their seats. Elsa sat rigidly next to a nervous looking Bunny, and Frozone looked slightly skeptical that the odd contraption could fly. Jack just looked excited.

Before she even knew what was happening, the sleigh shot forward, knocking her into Jack's lap. They skidded into an icy tunnel, and the sleigh ran up the walls and upside down. Elsa's queenly resolve melted and she screamed, grabbing onto Bunny with all her might. He returned the gesture. Only moments later, they burst out of the tunnel and flew into the sky. Laughing delightedly, Jack held on until he knew Peri had adjusted to the flying, then turned to Frozone. The skepticism had flown away, and he grinned. Maybe it wasn't as safe as an airplane in his mind, but it was ok.

They flew through the air for a few moments, enough time for Elsa to relax her grip on the Easter Bunny and look a little mortified she had grabbed him in the first place, when North pulled out a snowglobe from his enormous red Russian robe. He was so deep in thought and worry that he didn't say a word. Luckily, Jack knew what to expect.

"Everybody, hold on!" he yelled as North threw the snowglobe in front of their flight.

"Tooth Palace!" North yelled with urgency.

A cloud of colors much like pixie dust appeared in front of them, swirling beautifully. Then they crashed into it. They spun in a tight corkscrew, and Peri thought her head might explode with the enormous pressure. Just when she thought she couldn't handle it any longer, they straightened with a pop. Peri gasped for air, it was like being underwater for as long as you could hold your breath, then exploding back to the surface.

The sleigh crashed onto a golden floor, and the passengers tumbled out. Elsa lay flat on her back, looking a little green, and Bunny scrambled as far away as he could.

"What in the name of Jack-Jack just happened?" Frozone exploded.

"That was basically time and space bending around us," Jack explained calmly. "Brought us thousands of miles from the North Pole to the Tooth Fairy's palace in the Himalayan. And what in the name of "Jack-Jack" does Jack-Jack mean?" he asked with a playful smirk.

"My friend's kid," Frozone explained, still gasping. "He has some weird, freaky super powers."

Jack Frost shrugged, then waved in greeting at the Tooth Fairy, who was rapidly descending from a high tower.

As much as Peri had always wanted to meet the Tooth Fairy, the most famous fairy of all time, she couldn't help admiring the palace. Golden spires flecked with green and pink decorations rose any direction you looked, and green specks fluttered everywhere. It was a little like a beehive.

Turning, Peri saw the Tooth Fairy embracing Jack and thanking North for coming so quickly. She was unlike any of the fairies at Pixie Hollow. Although she was about the same size, her whole body seemed to be covered in blue-green and yellow feathers; only her eyes, cheeks, mouth, and delicate hands were uncovered. Her purple, fluorescent wings fluttered nervously behind her. She seemed very anxious about something, until she caught sight of Peri.

"Oh my goodness you found a new fairy!" she squealed, flying over. "My name's Toothiana, what's yours?"

"Tooth," North groaned.

"Periwinkle," Peri said shyly, shaking her hand. "Or Peri."

"Not now," North insisted.

"Your hair is so white…"

Peri formed a snowball and threw it at Jack. "I'm a frost fairy at Pixie Hollow."

"A frost fairy!?" Toothiana opened up Peri's mouth and squealed with delight again. "They're just like Jack's! They sparkle like freshly fallen snow!"

"So do mine," Elsa said grimly, moving gingerly to a sitting position. "But there's no need to check."

Frozone clamped his mouth firmly shut, and Toothiana looked at them all in awe. "Looks like there's more going on here than I thought."

"Ah yes, finally we are back to the point," North said. "Tell us what is going on."

The excited, youthful look dropped from Tooth's face instantly. Suddenly, she looked hundreds of years old. Above, the tiny green specks stopped moving and hovered, listening.

"It's the children. During the rounds last night, several of my fairies noticed children were missing. Some teeth were in weird places…like in dark alleyways, or just in the halls. They looked like they'd been knocked out. I think they've been kidnapped," she said in a rush. Then she looked up and noticed the stillness. "Hey, get back to work! There are still other children out there who need their memories!"

Peri was confused, but it didn't seem to be the right time to ask what the connection was between teeth and memories.

"Tooth," North began.

"I know, I know. I've seen evidence of a few kidnappings before, but I didn't call you. Why would I? You wouldn't be able to help anything. The thing is, I've never seen this many. This is a mass kidnapping, on a global scale."

"I want to go to Burgess," Jack said suddenly. "I need to check on my followers there. If anyone will know if something's going on in the human world, it's them."

"Excuse me?" Frozone said.

"Oh, right. Well, do you know what's been going on lately?" Jack asked.

"I've been a little too busy saving this earth to notice," Frozone said sassily. "I was defeating a super-vililan and then something messed with my ice powers, so I went on a road trip up to the North Pole."

"Ok, then. Let's go to Burgess," Jack said firmly.

"Jack, I understand your concern," Tooth said. "But this is an urgent matter. We don't want to waste any time. Elsa, you're a human, aren't you?"

Elsa looked shocked. The little fairies had been flying around her for several minutes now, making her quite nervous. She had her arms crossed and her eyes flickered back and forth.

"Erm…yes. But Peri and I are from the past. We got pulled out of TIME!" she shrieked as a fairy dive-bombed right past her ear from behind.

A small blast of ice shot from her hand, narrowly missing a group of fairies. Tooth lunged and caught Baby Tooth as she fell, then quickly backed up, protectively holding her.

"Sorry," Elsa whispered, wincing.

"Burgess is a great idea," Tooth said overly brightly.

"Yeah," Elsa said sullenly. "Drop me off at the Pole and then head to wherever the heck Burgess is."

"No," Frozone said. "You're coming with us. You need more practice in public."

"What! No! I'll hurt someone and make it even worse!"

"You won't hurt anyone," Jack said. "Remember what I told you, you can control your powers if you believe you can."

"This isn't my fight, it's not my problem."

"Elsa, there are children missing," Peri said seriously.

"This isn't my kingdom, this isn't my time. This is basically a whole new world, and I don't have to do anything for it."

"You were pulled out of time for a reason," North said. "Around the same time, forgive the pun, there is a mass disappearance. These incidents might be linked. All of you, go with Jack while I return to the Pole and set up…oh, I'll think of something that will help! Come along, Bunny."

"Oh no, I'm going there MY way."

He tapped his large foot on the ground and disappeared into a large hole. North shrugged and hopped back into his sleigh.

"Wait!" Frozone said. "We're in the Himalayan mountains! How are supposed to get to Pennsylvania?"

"I thought we were going to Burgess," Elsa whimpered.

"You'll find a way," North said with a smile. "You don't know your own abilities yet."

"So that's what this is, a test?" Jack asked angrily. He lowered his voice, but Peri could still hear. "I'm the only one here who really knows what he's doing."

"You can help the others, then," North said.

"I'm not a leader!" Jack insisted.

"You are now," North grinned. "On Dasher, on Dancer! On Prancer and Dixen!"

The reindeer flew off, and Jack groaned. "I should never have shown him 'The Night Before Christmas.' Worst mistake I think I've ever made."

Confused, the four of them looked at each other blankly. Toothiana looked panicked at the thought of uncontrollable Elsa left alone at her palace.

"How are we supposed to get to Burgess?" Frozone asked.

"You don't have any magical transport, do you?" Peri asked Toothiana.

"No, sorry. I'm afraid you're on your own."

"I have the wind, which will take me and Peri there in, oh, ten minutes? The problem is with Elsa and Frozone. You can't fly, so I don't think the wind will help you."

"If we went above cloud level," Frozone began. "I could build ice bridges and sled on them extremely quickly."

"I can't."

They all looked at Elsa, considering the problem.

"I'll carry you," Jack said finally. "We won't get there in ten minutes, but it's the best we can do."

"Great!" Tooth said. "Well, you'd better get started. Good luck!"

"Wait!" Elsa said suddenly, running after her. Tooth stopped dead and turned around slowly, a fake smile plastered on her face. "I'm sorry I nearly froze one of your fairies. What you were saying earlier, to your fairies, the teeth have memories?"

"They contain the most important memories of your childhood," Tooth said slowly. She looked curiously at Elsa. "You're very quick."

"So, like, if the memories in your head were tampered with by a troll…would the teeth memories be original? Even if you still had all your baby teeth when the memories were changed?"

"Yes. Those meddling trolls have been messing with memories since before I became a fairy," she said crossly. "I made sure that what they did to the head wouldn't effect the teeth."

"You wouldn't happen to have my sister Anna's, would you?" she asked, desperately.

Tooth's eyes widened and her face softened. She thought for a minute. "No," she said firmly. "Not in this time. After people die, their memories are no longer needed, and the teeth are…destroyed."

Peri saw Jack raise his eyebrows. Somehow, she knew this wasn't true, but he motioned her to keep quiet. Toothiana must have a reason for lying. Elsa sighed and thanked Tooth, then joined Jack.

"We're going to head north, over the arctic, and down into Canada."

"Where are we going?" Elsa asked wearily. "Burgess, Pen…Pen something, or Cananada?"

"Oh, I forgot, you're from Medieval Times, where there is no sense of world geography except your little serfdoms," Jack said sarcastically.

Elsa looked shocked. "Excuse me, I'm from the 1800's! We are much more civilized than that!"

"Burgess is a city in the state of Pennsylvania," Frozone explained, glaring at Jack. "A state is sort of like a province, or a big area of a country. The state of Pennsylvania is part of the country the United States of America, or USA."

"What kind of name is that?" Elsa asked. "What happened to poetic names like Arendelle or Corona?"

"Or of the Southern Isles," Peri said pointedly.

Elsa opened her mouth to protest, but stopped. "Good point. Apologies. Continue, Frozone."

"Canada is the country north of USA," Frozone said, creating a literal snow globe in his hand. "We'll be flying from here, Asia..."

"That's the country we're in now," Elsa said.

"Er, for the sake of time, sure. We'll be flying up through here, over the arctic, and down into Canada. Then we'll be flying at a diagonal towards Pennsylvania, and Jack will lead us to Burgess."

"Ok, I think I got it. Let's go."

She stopped, realizing what she had just said. Without knowing it, a smile spread across her face.

"What?" Jack asked as Frozone started off.

"Oh, inside joke," Elsa said carelessly.

Awkwardly, she put one arm over his shoulder as he put his arm around her waist. Peri stood next to them, trying not laugh.

"Wind, take us to Jamie's house," Jack said.

The wind protested a bit to the extra weight, but sensed Jack's urgency. They caught up to Frozone pretty quickly, and only had to slow down a little bit. It was bitterly cold, even Frozone and Elsa felt it. Jack explained that supernatural beings, like himself and Peri, were impervious to cold, unlike the two humans, who could withstand lower temperatures for a long time. After that, they didn't talk too much. The wind hurtled them along, even helping Frozone, and finally they reached Burgess, half an hour later. The wind dropped them off at the lake, instead of at Jamie's house; Jack was annoyed, until they spotted a girl with glasses and a brown ponytail crying on the other side. Peri instantly ran over to her.

"Hey," she said quietly, sitting next to her. "What's your name?"

"Margo," the girl whimpered. "And I want to be left alone."

"I don't think you really do," Peri said. "What's the matter?"

Margo pulled her green jacket around her tighter and looked up at the group. She started when her eyes fell upon Jack.

"You're Jack Frost!" she exclaimed. Jack raised an eyebrow. "Jamie told me about you."

"Is Jamie ok?" Jack asked.

"Yes," Margo said, looking down again.

"Not now, Jack," Peri hissed. "Margo, what's wrong?"

"I don't know where my parents or sisters are!" Margo sobbed. "They just vanished, without a note, or a phone call, or anything! Agnes even left Fluffy behind. She doesn't go anywhere without her unicorn! I don't know what to do!"

"Jamie," Jack said firmly. "They'll take care of you there. And it's no bother, we were just on our way now."

Margo nodded and allowed Jack to pick her up. Quickly, they made their way through the streets to Jamie's house. He saw them coming and ran out to meet them.

"Jack!" he called. "Wait, is that…Margo! What's happened?"

"Her family is missing," Jack said seriously. "Will your mom take care of her for now?"

"Yeah, of course we will!"

"I'll take her inside and explain everything," Frozone said. "Since she can actually see me. What's your mom's name, kid?"

"Emma Bennett," Jamie said distractedly.

"Jamie, I need to know something," Jack said. "We need to know something. Has there been a lot of kidnappings in the mortal world, lately?"

"Yeah, lots! Mostly kids, but sometimes parents too. Families are being torn apart all over the world! It's been in the news and everything, but nobody seems to think they're connected except me. The police say they're looking for clues, but they haven't found anything yet. Jack, do you know what's going on?"

"No," Jack said sadly. "We only just now found out about it."

"But we will find out what's going on," Elsa said fiercely. The others looked at her in shock. They hadn't heard her speak much louder than a whisper before now. "We're going to find the missing, and reunite the families."

"I thought you said this wasn't your problem," Jack said.

"It is now," Elsa said grimly.

"I'm confused," Frozone said, rejoining them. "Oh, Jamie, your mother wants to see you. Elsa, you just said you didn't want to come out in public because you were afraid of hurting somebody."

"Yeah, I was afraid. That's why I stayed hidden from my sister for so long. That didn't help matters at all. I understand the pain and longing of being apart, even if it's for the greater good. The families aren't separated for any good reason. You guys understand me, right?" she turned to Jack and Peri.

"Yeah," they said.

"I don't have kids," Frozone said. "But I do understand. My father, Cobra Bubbles, was a social worker on Hawaii."

"Cobra Bubbles?" Jack asked, smirking.

"Bubbles was a nickname," Frozone said, gritting his teeth. "He was rather intimidating, and we thought it would help soften his image if he changed his last name. It didn't work. But that's not the point. I've seen many broken families, and I don't want to see anymore. One of the things we learned while staying in Hawaii was what ohana means. Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten."

"We should make that our motto," Peri said after a moment of silence.

"What's a motto?" Elsa asked.

"Nothing, what's the motto with you?" Jack asked. He burst out laughing.

"Uh…ok. A motto is a sentence that sums up what a group is all about."

"We're a group now?" Frozone asked.

"Yes," Peri said. "We can all control ice, we all experienced some sort of ice pull and were brought together for some unknown reason, and we all want to help with this situation. Why not?"

"So, basically," Jack said. "We're all in this together?"

Frozone glared at him. "NO."

"What? Just saying."

"Do we need a name?" Elsa asked.

"Well, we can't just call ourselves the not-Guardians plus one Guardian," Jack said.

"It needs to be something we all have in common," Peri said.

"Duh," Jack said. "Our powers. What about Just-ice League" Jack suggested.

"I like it," Elsa said, smiling.

"Has a nice ring to it," Frozone admitted.

"Let's do it, then!" Peri said.

"Do what?" Jamie and Margo asked, coming out of the house.

"We're going to become a team!" Peri said excitedly. "To hunt down the kidnappers. Margo, we're going to bring back your family."

Margo grinned. "Where are you going to start?"

"The North Pole," Jack said. "We need to report this situation to the big man. He's been setting up some sort of technology that will help us, too. See you guys later."


	8. Chapter 7: Elsa

Chapter Seven: Elsa

They had been flying back to the Pole for several minutes when Elsa suddenly gasped and her grip on Jack loosened for half a second.

"Whoa! Your hands went extremely cold there for a second. Like abnormally cold. What's up?"

"I just realized what I agreed to do," Elsa said faintly.

"You agreed to find and rescue kids," Peri said, flying beside them.

"In public. And the worst part is I'll have to be around defenseless kids with my uncontrollable powers. Suddenly I don't think this is such a good idea."

"Don't worry!" Frozone called from where he surfed below them. He didn't waste any more breath, however. He was already having a difficult time keeping up as it was.

"Elsa, we'll help you learn how to control your powers," Jack said. "Right, Peri?"

"We promise, Elsa."

Luckily, they had reached the arctic, and Jack set Elsa down again. She knelt on the ice and slowed her breathing. She felt like she was totally and completely losing control once more, and she was glad Anna wasn't there to get hurt.

And yet…she missed her sister so much. Perhaps even more so than the years they had spent apart in the castle.

Elsa wasn't sure how long she stayed there; eventually she regained control, but she became so sad she hardly wanted to move, even though the cold was biting her now. A gentle hand fell on her shoulder, and she looked up. It was Frozone, only without the mask.

"Come on, Elsa," Lucius said.

He helped her to her feet and supported her inside to North's study, where she sank slowly into a chair by the fire. Peri and Jack seemed to have finished relating their findings to North, who was nodding thoughtfully.

"Tooth, Sandy and I are doing all that we can to help search. In the meantime, if you are going to work as a team, you need some touching up. I was watching you the other day at your snowball…war as it was.

"Elsa, you need control. When focused you can build castles and fully functioning machinery that rivals even my ice sculptures. But under pressure and stress, or when you stop and think to much, you lose it. With some help, that can be mended.

"Lucius, you only use ice. That is good, but sometimes you need to use snow. The only time I have really seen you use it was when you saved Dash from falling. You need to practice with snow.

"Periwinkle, you are a very gifted, talented fairy. But you are too gentle. You need to be more fierce. This isn't your friendly Pixie Hollow anymore. This has officially become war. You need to work on your self defense and offense.

"And finally, Jack."

"I'm perfect," Jack said with a smirk. Even Elsa couldn't help grinning. "I've mastered snow, ice, frost, and control. Heck, I even know my center now. What more is there to learn?"

"I talked with Elsa earlier this morning," North said. "Before I got the call from Tooth." The smile slipped from Jack's face, and now it was Elsa smirking. "She created two live snowmen who could think and talk intelligently."

Jack's jaw dropped and he stared at Elsa, who was suddenly uncomfortable with the attention.

"Well," Jack said at last. "You've surprised me yet again. So you want me to try and create life?"

"Just experiment. It probably won't be a necessity," North said. "I'm simply giving you something to do. Now, you all will practice this afternoon while I design a practice test of some sort for tomorrow. Dismissed."

"He's really worried," Jack said as they made their way outside. "He's not even acting like himself."

"I don't see why shouldn't he be worried," Lucius said, replacing his Frozone mask. "It's a very serious matter. Alright everyone, break up and practice individually."

"Who put you in charge?" Jack asked.

"I'm the oldest here."

"I'm three hundred years old."

"I'm the maturest around here."

"I…I can't argue with that," Jack admitted. "I like being an immature kid just fine, thank you! Say, Elsa, how did you make those live snowmen?"

"Oh…I don't really know," Elsa said, still walking away from the Pole. "The first time I was using my powers for the first time in years. I was just really happy, and free, and just full of emotion. I did it without thinking about it, and I didn't know Olaf was alive until he came with Anna to my palace. I guess I made Marshmallow cause I knew I could create life and I knew what I needed. Marshmallow wasn't as…for lack of a better word, intelligent as Olaf. Somehow he couldn't speak in complete sentences, and Olaf could. I made Olaf when I was happy, and Marshmallow when I was scared and needed a protector. I think they act on your emotions, but that's all I can tell you. Sorry."

"No, it's fine. It's going to be a long shot anyways."

* * *

Elsa waited patiently in the center of the arena. North had told them the test was ready, and thrust them in here, but hadn't told them what to expect. Only that they had to survive. The problem was that Elsa didn't know what to do.

Circling in place, Jack held his staff in defense, eyes narrowed at the encircling wooden walls. Peri fluttered above them, her hands glowing with the ready frost. Frozone stood silently upright, stiff as a board. His goggles were down, so she couldn't see what his eyes were doing.

Suddenly a trapdoor opened and a wooden object came speeding out. The air was filled with creaking, roaring sounds. Frozone instantly blasted it to smithereens. North laughed from his viewpoint above them.

"If they touch you, you temporarily lose your powers," he called. "And they can freely attack you. Good luck."

More trapdoors opened all over the arena. Now Elsa could see the figures took the form of little flying dragons, about two feet in length, and not very tall.

Everyone spun around, firing shots anywhere they saw a brown blur. Playing to her size, Peri ducked and dodged, freezing the joints and wings of the toys whenever she could. Elsa shot blasts of rough ice from her hands, but when it hit the dragons it more encased them than destroyed them. Although it slowed them down considerably, they were still there and dangerous. Frozone's natural ice seemed tuned to the correct consistency to destroy the wood, and Jack quickly fixed his ice as well.

Just when it seemed the numbers were thinning, the trapdoors opened again, and something else flew out. It was shiny and metal, and knocked Peri to the ground. Jack flew to the rescue, but the ice that worked on the dragons wasn't working on the metal birds. Peri got back to her feet and, forgetting her powers weren't supposed to work, frosted the whole thing over. The crane shivered and fell to the ground.

"Frost the birds and blast the dragons with ice!" Jack yelled.

Frozone struggled the most, as he was more used to ice than anything else. One of the cranes flew down and pecked him hard with the metal beak and flapping wings. Peri came over and frosted it for him, and Elsa shot a dragon flying down towards him.

Suddenly she heard the creak of the doors reopening, and even more dragons and cranes flew out. Elsa found herself facing both at the same time. She held out both of her hands, trying to send frost from one and ice from the other.

Now it really was like her powers wouldn't work. There was a slushy sputter, and then nothing. She panicked. Elsa raised her arms in front of her defensively, and felt a wave of ice leave her entire body. Even though she knew the others were ice prone, she didn't move. She was afraid that something had gone horribly wrong.

Then Elsa felt gentle hands lower her arms, and she gasped at the touch, not realizing she had been holding her breath. Frozone pulled her into a hug.

"Elsa, we're ok," Peri said softly.

North jumped down from the spectator's box and tramped over to them, grinning.

"Now, what have you learned from this?" he asked in a teacher voice.

"We can only control one element at a time," Jack said. "But Elsa..."

"That isn't all you should have learned!" North thundered. "You didn't work together and you failed miserably. The only times you did help each other is AFTER your fellow member was down and out. That was crude, and in a real battle you all would have been dead like that!" He snapped his big fingers, which echoed in the empty clearing. "Work on working together, and find out which element suits you best."

* * *

Elsa knew she wasn't ready. As Jack had said, Norh was so preoccupied with the children that he wasn't turning out to be a good teacher. He had told them what to work on, but not how to achieve those goals. The Just-Ice League had spent the past few days working hard on their powers, switching from ice to frost to snow to frost to ice as quickly and randomly as they could, shooting down ice targets Jack had made for them. Everyone told Elsa that she had improved, but she knew still targets were a lot easier than moving targets. Her fears were confirmed as soon as North started talking.

"This test will be a little different," he announced. "You will find your foes reacting a little differently than before, and there are some new allies for them as well. You also now realize that they can't take away your powers, only a clever bluff on my part."

Without anymore talk or warning, North pulled a lever, and all of the trapdoors save one opened simultaneously. Only this time, the dragons breathed fire.

"Make an ice shield!" Frozone yelled.

Elsa and Jack had no problems with this, but Peri, whose element was definitely frost, could not make something out of ice so easily. She resorted to sticking by Frozone's side, or dodging the flames.

Everyone kept their eyes alert and moving. They tried to stand in a small cluster formation, but they soon were drawn apart in the chaos. Still, they kept within eyesight, and shouted warnings to each other in the abbreviated code they had created and practiced on their own.

"Jack, r-f!" Frozone yelled across to him.

Jack turned to his right and frosted a metal bird, spotting a dragon above Elsa as he did so. "Elsa, u-i!"

Elsa raised her shield as dragon fire spewed down at her, then blasted it out of the sky. She was quite surprised, this was the first time she had managed to actually hit her target dead on, with the right amount of force and consistency, and caused it to explode. Of course, her shield had warped to the point it looked like a boneless child, but she easily remedied that.

But there was no time to rejoice in Elsa's small victory. North pulled another lever, and the last door opened. The wooden dragons and metal cranes were joined by something small and clear, and a loud chirping joined the creaking, roaring, and crane bird calls.

Frozone and Peri were hit first. They were small hummingbirds, made completely of glass, and there was a whole swarm of them. Peri tried frosting them, but that only seemed to make them grow stronger. Frozone couldn't find a good consistency to blow them up, but he found that encasing them in ice was extremely effective. He passed on this information to the others.

Elsa lost all sense of time, just fighting to stay conscious and not get attacked. She found herself resenting North for this. She needed more time and more practice; bit by bit, not all at once. Elsa was a queen after all, why didn't she get a say in her training? Why didn't she get a better teacher?

"Elsa, focus!" Jack yelled, stepping in front of her and blocking dragon fire with his ice shield.

He was almost too late; a spark flew past him and burnt Elsa's arm. She cried in pain and clasped her hand to the mark, instantly coating it in ice.

"Ice isn't working on the hummingbirds," he said. "They're chipping their way out with their beaks!"

"So how do we stop them?"

"Snow!"

And with that, Jack dashed away to help Peri, who had been separated from Frozone again. They weren't far apart, but a few feet meant all the difference with small magical objects like these.

Just as she realized this, a swarm of hummingbirds mobbed her. Elsa threw snowballs in every direction, but it didn't seem to help. For every bird she cut down, it seemed like five more took its place. Elsa fell to the snow, curling up in a ball in defeat. If only she had a whole heap of snow that could constantly fight back...

Marshmallow.

Elsa extended her hands and simply thought about a protector that would stop the pain. Not a happy go-lucky snowman like Olaf, or a rage monster baby like Marshmallow. She needed a protector, someone who could obey orders without hesitation and be gentle when needed.

A gallant knight. That's what she needed.

The hummingbirds stopped, and she could no longer feel the painful pecks of their sharp glass beaks. Looking up, she saw a suit of snow armor, just like the ones in Arendelle, waving its arms around and knocking the birds out of the air.

North blew a whistle, and the objects dropped motionless to the ground. He descended the steps and faced the four of them, who tried to stand respectfully to attention. It was hard when they were panting for breath and bleeding in various places.

"You all have done very good this week," North said. "In a real fight where all the elements are needed, Jack will control snow, Frozone ice, Peri frost, and Elsa can make live snowmen. But usually, ice is the most lethal and threatening. So practice that. If there is time, tomorrow I will teach you how to sword fight like the Russians!"

But Elsa had zoned out when North assigned her an element.

'Yeah, Elsa. Make live snowmen to do the dirty work for you. Hide behind them and don't do anything else.'

She sighed and left the arena, walking towards her palace. She couldn't help it, she felt tears roll down her cheeks in frustration.

"I'll show them," she muttered fiercely to herself. "I CAN and I WILL master my powers." She turned to the snow soldier, who was following her. "You, your name is...Lancelot. Guard my castle, but don't hurt anyone."

The silent armor saluted and turned on the spot.


	9. Chapter 8: Frozone

**Author's Note: Who told me senior year would be easy? Whoever you were you were either lying or you didn't care about making good grades and getting into college. Life is difficult, guys. That's my only excuse. Three months since I've uploaded anything on here. I know 'cause almost all my saved documents were gone. Luckily I have them on file on my computer, so I didn't lose any writing.**

* * *

Frozone wandered around the halls of the North Pole. He had been there several days already, but still hadn't seen all of the amazing rooms. There were rooms for different countries, child toys, animal toys, and a whole wing devoted entirely to weapons. Already he had gotten lost a dozen times.

He wasn't sure why he loved exploring the workshop so much. Maybe it brought out the child in him, or maybe he still couldn't believe that Santa was real. And then there was that vague, nagging suspicion in the back of his mind that something was wrong. But he couldn't figure out what, and wandering took his mind off it.

On this venture, he wandered close to North's office. North saw him and beckoned him inside.

"So? How are you settling in?"

"Alright, alright. Still adjustin'."

"Yes, this was a bit of a shock of a shock for you, no?"

"Dude, I didn't believe in any of this stuff. I mean, superpowers is one thing, but fairies and Guardians are another thing."

"Are they? Is it that hard to believe?"

Frozone didn't answer.

"Speaking of fairies, we may have finally settled on a surveillance system. Between my technology and Tooth's fairies, we'll be almost instantly alerted to the next kidnapping. We'll be on the scene only seconds after the crime."

He grinned almost maniacally, but something had clicked with Frozone. He knew what had been bothering him.

"They've been very quiet, whoever the kidnappers are. Do you think they know what we're doing?"

"Quite possibly," North said cheerfully. He offered a plate full of cookies to his guest. "Cookie?"

"You know the elves lick those, right?"

North stared at him for a moment, eyes wide in shock. "What?!"

He stormed out of the room, looking for elves to yell at in angry Russian. Frozone chuckled quietly to himself and walked down to the kitchen, suddenly hungry and wanting some real food.

To his surprise, he found Periwinkle mixing up something that looked delicious for herself and Jack. Sometimes he forgot that she wasn't a little kid, but a fully grown, mature adult fairy.

"Can I have some of that?" Frozone asked curiously.

"When it's done! This is Fairy Mary's special cake mix. Or something like it, at least. I found almost all of the ingredients here, and the others I'm improvising."

"Peri was just telling me about Pixie Hollow," Jack said.

"Don't let me stop you."

"Well, there are four main districts, each with a certain season's weather year round. I'm a winter fairy, so I lived in the Winter Woods. For a long time, winter fairies and warm weather fairies weren't allowed to mix and cross the borders. Then Tink, she's my twin sister. She lives in Tinker Hollow in the Spring Fields. Anyway, she crossed the border and that's how we met. Now everyone is allowed to cross the borders, with some certain precautions."

She sighed longingly as she pushed the cake into the magic oven.

"Elsa, do you ever miss Anna as much as I miss Tink?"

"Elsa?" Frozone asked. "She isn't here."

"What?" Peri turned around and scanned the kitchen. "She was here just a minute ago!"

"I'll go find her. Save us some of that cake," Frozone added.

He had his suspicions about her whereabouts, but had never followed her before, sensing that she needed some space. But there comes a point when too much space and time on your own isn't good for you, and Elsa had crossed that line many years ago. And now that Frozone recognized this, he realized it was time to push Elsa out of her comfort and safety zone.

He had often seen her leaving the workshop or after practices in the arena, usually covering her tracks with fresh snow. Elsa believed that no one knew where she went and couldn't follow her, but in reality, all of the other Just-Ice league members could tell her snow apart from the natural snow of the North Pole. She had left a perfect trail for Frozone to follow, so he felt pretty confident heading after her.

He was not prepared for the beautiful ice forest, or the castle.

"Welcome. I am Lancelot. How may I help you?"

Frozone started and looked over at the snow knight. He hadn't been aware that he could talk.

"Uh, I'm here to see Elsa."

"My queen does not wish to be disturbed. She needs space."

"Yeah, well she's had fifteen years too many. She needs someone who can help her learn to control her powers."

"Can you help her?"

Lancelot tilted his head curiously.

"I'm going to try."

Lancelot hesitated for another moment. "Follow me."

He turned around and opened the large door, revealing an ice skating rink courtyard.

It took several minutes before Frozone finally made it through the actual doors to the castle, and another ten minutes before he was able to leave the great hall. He and Honey had always talked about vacationing in Europe and touring old castles, but Frozone knew that nothing could compare with this. Lancelot was patient, allowing him to admire his mistress' creation.

At last, he found Elsa, sliding down a spiral banister. Lancelot looked at her for a moment, and though it was hard to tell what emotions ran through him underneath his visor, he seemed sad. Then he saluted to Frozone and returned to his post.

Elsa was shooting ice out of her hands to propel herself faster and faster, flinging her hands forward and creating a fresh pile of snow to land on at the last second. Without stopping for breath, she formed a snow column in the center of the staircase and rose up to the top, where she instantly launched herself onto the banister while simultaneously dissolving her elevator.

She was not doing so well.

Frozone noted that the walls around the stairs were deeply scratched from the powerful ice, and the fresh mound of snow seemed to be piling higher. He leaned against the wall and watched her for several minutes. The more she tried, the more tired and frustrated she became, and the rougher her ice grew. Finally, Frozone ran up and grabbed her arm before she could rise on her snow elevator.

"Whoa! Slow down there before you hurt yourself."

Elsa gasped slightly, but didn't seem to be surprised. Only desperate and worn.

"I can control it, I know I can!" she managed to gasp out in a frenzy.

She was nearly hysterical. Gently, Frozone steered her over to a bench and sat her down.

"Why am I having such a hard time with this?" she whispered. "Nobody else is."

"Well, lets see. Jack and Peri are magical beings so it comes naturally to them. They don't even have to think about it. Me, I'm just as human as you are. It came as quite a shock to my parents when they found out about my powers."

"So, you had to learn? How?"

"At first I was on my own. Five years living out in Hawaii trying to figure out what the heck was goin' on, then we relocated to Alaska so I could practice without getting hurt. But when I was ten we all realized I needed some help. So we moved to New York, to see the most experienced person with the supernatural that we know: my uncle Nick Fury."

"Does he have powers?"

"Nah, he's just the head of a massive secret agent company called SHIELD. You know, guns, aliens, monsters, and faking your own death type thing. They train superheroes to work for them, or sometimes the superheroes leave and become independent. I left as soon as I learned to control it."

"How long did it take?" Frozone could hear the desperation in her voice.

"Elsa, controlling superpowers is different for everyone. There's no fixed amount of time or program to help you learn."

"How long did it take you?" Elsa repeated.

The fear and desperation was gone, replaced by a fleeting moment where...there was no other word for it. Queenness. Although she probably would be shocked to know it, Elsa truly looked like a queen.

"Four years," Frozone said reluctantly. "And it took a whole lot of training and discipline. My uncle's a pretty strict guy. Sometimes a little too strict," he admitted. "I saw a lot of quitters, but I know for a fact you aren't one of them."

"How can you tell?" she asked sulkily. We've only known each other for a week."

"Because I spent four years watching people come and go. You've got the attitude of a winner. You're not going to give up."

Elsa was silent.

"Hey, it may take time, but you'll get there. How long have you been out here?"

"Since dawn," Elsa mumbled.

"Dawn?! Girl, it's mid afternoon! Tell me you at least ate breakfast." Elsa rubbed her neck sheepishly and Frozone sighed. "Clean up and we'll go. Peri's in the kitchen cooking some sort of fairy food. It looks decent."

Elsa looked around the castle, suddenly noticing the damage of her intense practice session. She shifted from one foot to the other, but didn't do anything.

"Whatcha waiting for? Snap your fingers, or whatever you do to make this stuff disappear."

Elsa bit her lip and closed her eyes in concentration. Very slowly, she raised her hands.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're adding more snow!" Frozone exclaimed, slipping deeper as the snow seemed to grab at his ankles.

"Sorry," Elsa gasped.

She tried lowering her hands this time, but to no avail. A cloud of snow appeared out of thin air and fell on them.

"Sorry!" Elsa sputtered, rubbing the snow out of her eyes. "I don't actually know how to make my snow disappear."

Frozone sighed. "Then that's somethin' we'll need to work on. But not today, you've 'bout tuckered yourself out."

He flicked his wrist and the entire pile disappeared. Only then did he discover that he and Elsa were floating several inches off the floor. Elsa slid a few feet in surprise, but once she recovered, she laid her hand on the wall, and coated the spiral staircase in a fresh, glistening sheet of ice.

"Good job," Frozone noted, nodding approvingly. "You're getting there, you're getting there."

But Elsa was once again sad.

It's a roller coaster with this one, he thought.

"I don't know why I made it like this," Elsa said, gesturing vaguely to the castle around her. "It's way too big, and it just makes me homesick."

Her eyes fell on the ballroom and lingered there for a long moment. Behind her, Frozone saw the ice grow upwards out of the floor, almost as if it were liquid. It grew up around five feet, and shaped itself into a girlish figure in a ball gown. The statue looked so similar, Frozone thought it was Elsa. But there were small differences, though he couldn't place his finger on it.

"Your sister?" he asked, forgetting that she hadn't yet seen the statue.

"What?" Elsa turned, puzzled.

When she saw the figure, it seemed like all the air in the castle stopped moving. Elsa was hardly breathing. Frozone was about to panic and intervene when suddenly, miraculously, she smiled.

"Anna," she agreed. "I barely saw her for years, but I got to see her at the coronation the other night. She was beautiful."

"She looks a lot like you," Frozone said.

Before Elsa could respond, the big doors slammed open, cracking them slightly, and Jack flew in. Lancelot came running behind him, politely protesting. One glance was all it took to know that something big had happened.

"There's been another kidnapping," he said breathlessly, tossing them some food. "We're leaving, now."

Without asking, he picked Elsa up and flew off with her. Frozone activated his ice skates and quickly caught up.

"I can run incredibly fast," Elsa said crossly. "There's no need to throw me over your shoulder like a sack of flour every time we need to go somewhere!"

"Sorry," Jack said.

They were nearing the workshop again; Frozone could see Peri holding a snow globe in her hand.

"Incoming!" Jack yelled.

Peri threw the snow globe, and a swirling, circular portal appeared. She hesitated for a split second, then jumped inside and disappeared. Jack shot through a second later, and Frozone knew it was too late to stop. He crashed through and landed roughly on the ground. They had arrived a small, ordinary house that seemed vaguely familiar, but with absolutely nothing special about it. As soon as Jack registered where they were, though, he dropped Elsa in shock and flew forward, flying right through the wall, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"JAMIE!"


	10. Chapter 9: Jack

Jack could feel sheer panic rising in his chest as he flew from room to room, ignoring closed doors and walls. He hadn't been this scared since Pitch had…no, not even then. He didn't know it was possible to be this scared, and since when could he fly through solid buildings? Jack's first believer was in danger, he knew that much. But what about Sophie and Margo? Except for Mrs. Bennet, the house was empty.

Jack raced back to the living room, where the others had gathered, and Frozone was talking to the distraught mother. Through the window, he could see Periwinkle pull some purple pixie dust from her fairy bag and shoot into the sky in a flash. Jack blinked, a little stunned. Elsa casually drifted over and nudged him inconspicuously. As mortals with no clue what to look for, both she and Frozone were at a loss for words. Jack shook his head, trying to clear it.

"You said you're with SHIELD?" Mrs. Bennet was asking.

"Yes, ma'am, but on a top secret mission. Not even all the other SHIELD agents know about this, so I suggest not mentioning it to anyone. It could cause trouble and delay our search," Frozone added confidentially.

"But you will find them?"

"Of course we will," Jack said firmly.

"Of course we will," Frozone echoed, taking out an official looking notebook—where the heck did that come from?—and a pencil. "We have some very determined agents on our team."

"Ask her exactly what happened," Jack prompted, balancing on top of his staff restlessly. It sucked to be invisible.

"Why don't you sit down, Mrs. Bennett," Elsa suggested gently. "And tell us exactly what happened. When exactly did the children disappear?"

"Not five minutes ago," she said. "I'm surprised you got here so quickly."

"We have the best technology in the world," Frozone said confidently. Jack glared at him.

"Not the best time to be boasting," he hissed.

"How did you discover they were gone?" Frozone asked, ignoring the Winter Spirit.

"I was in the kitchen, and I could hear them laughing outside. It was so nice out, so I sent them to the yard to play. But then there was a blue flash of light, and they started screaming. I ran out to see what was the matter, but there was another flash just as I reached the door. They were gone when I stepped out, just silence…Sophie would never leave her doll behind."

She clutched the little rabbit tighter and began to cry. Elsa reached out a tentative hand, but pulled back. Again Jack felt a knot of frustration in his chest, and looked at Frozone for help. But even he looked a little awkward.

"Oh, where's Peri when you need her?" Jack groaned. "She's best at this stuff."

Slightly offended, Frozone set down his notebook and sat next to Mrs. Bennet, giving her a consoling side hug. Jack looked out the window and saw Peri crash into the yard and lay there. Obviously, she had not found the kids.

"I swear," Jack said through gritted teeth. "I'll find those kids if it kills me."

Frozone glanced up at him for a second, thoughtful. Then he put one hand to his ear and nodded.

"Yes, sir, I'll tell her. Mrs. Bennet, we've had an agent promise that he will find your kids, including Margo, if it kills him."

"Well I'm touched by his dedication, but I certainly hope nobody dies!"

"We'll do our best, ma'am."

"Wrap it up," Jack said. "Peri's waiting outside."

Without waiting for the others, he flew outside. Periwinkle was lying on the grass, panting hard and looking very confused. Her normally perfect hair was wildly in disarray, parts of it floating with the pixie dust. Jack liked her; it was nice having another flying immortal being who could create ice around.

"So?" he asked shortly.

"They're nowhere within the state!" Peri groaned, exasperated. "I used some of Zarina's fast flying pixie dust; if they were around, I would have caught them. They've simply vanished!"

"That's what Mrs. Bennet said," Jack mused.

He filled her in on the story, Frozone and Elsa joining them midway. Frozone pulled out a very technical looking device—again, where did he keep this stuff?—and pressed a few buttons, walking around the yard. Suddenly he let out a cry of alarm, and nearly dropped the machine. Quickly he whipped a cell phone out of his pocket.

"Call Bob," he said. There was a moment of silence while Peri and Elsa looked on inquiringly. "Bob, I think I've finally found something...why would I be dead?...I couldn't call, there was no cell service at the North Pole!...look, I'll tell you all about it later. Right now we have a national..."

"Worldwide," Jack corrected.

"Worldwide emergency! Children are being kidnapped from all over the world, Bob. We're at the scene of the latest one now, missed it by seconds. Look at these readings."

Jack floated over his shoulder and watched him text the scan's results. There was a moment of silence as the text went through and Bob looked it over.

"Please tell me that it's not what I think it means," Frozone said.

"You read it correctly," Jack heard Bob say faintly. "But it doesn't make sense."

"I mean is there any, and I mean ANY, chance that he could have survived."

"Absolutely not," Bob said. "I saw it with my own eyes."

"But who else could it be?" Frozone said. Silence. "Look, notify Edna and some of the other government people and get them investigating. We'll continue our own investigating out here."

"Who's we?"

"My new team, the Just-Ice League. Man, have I got some stories for you when this crisis blows over."

"Right, talk to you later."

"Bye."

"Who survived?" Jack exploded before Frozone could even hang up.

"A super villain who nearly destroyed our entire city once. We defeated him, or at least we thought we did. If he really is back, then he's out for some serious revenge."

"Who is he, exactly?" Peri asked.

"Syndrome."

Jack needed nothing else. He knew that name-the guy had been on the naughty list since he was eight-knew that this guy had taken away his kids. Jack didn't even realize where he was going, just knew that he was flying so fast everything was a blur.

"Dude! Slow down!"

Jack glanced behind him and saw Frozone, struggling to create an ice bridge and skate fast enough to keep up. Reluctantly, Jack ground to a halt, though he wasn't sure how he did that in the air. Frozone reached him a moment later, panting.

"Bro, calm down. You ain't gonna find him like that."

"If Syndrome really is alive, is there any way to track him?" Jack asked shortly.

"Yes. I do have a plan, but it's not racing off like you just did. We're miles out of Burgess."

Jack looked back at the ice bridge. It was colossal, stretching as far as he could see. As guilty as he felt, it didn't stop that painful, burning desire in his chest to just do something. Before he could say another word, however, Frozone's phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"Oh good, it works!" North said, his voice booming so loud that Jack could hear it. "Go to Kansas, Pitch Black has been spotted. I'll meet you there."

"Hold on, you told me there was no cell service at the North Pole!" Frozone said indignantly. But North was gone. "Who's Pitch?"

Jack turned pale-well, paler than usual. "It seems like both of our supposedly dead enemies are back," he said.

* * *

**Author's Note: Sorry this is short. Originally it was combined with the next chapter, but it was a little long. Plus, I like leaving it on a cliffhanger. mwahaha!**


	11. Chapter 10: Frozone

Chapter Ten: Frozone

Pitch Black knew they were coming. He could sense it. He could smell their fear. His black cloud of nightmare sand shifted and swelled beneath him like a giant octopus, sending locals within a 5 mile radius into a panic.

'Good,' Pitch thought to himself.

Normally, Pitch liked to terrify and destroy the common, puny peasants. Their fear made good energy for him. But today was going to be different. He had new abilities, and was guaranteed life. So today was the day he would push Jack to his limits, mentally and physically.

Jack was not alone, of course. Syndrome had reported that he had built up a team of ice fighters. A frail fairy, a super human which Syndrome had assured him would not be much trouble, and a very special girl. Her fear alone would give him enough energy to keep him strong for a week, and she had great potential. The whole ally proposition hadn't worked with Jack, but this girl was different. Pitch was certain that, given time and under a certain set of conditions, she would join him.

A few fields away, there was a loud pop, and a portal appeared. The Just-Ice League spilled out and charged. Pitch laughed cheerfully. Now that Elsa was so close, her fears were so strong they were laid out like a book. He knew exactly what to do to bring the team down, and get Elsa away from the others. Casually, he sent tendrils of sand at them, enclosing himself in a loosely built cage.

It was amazing how fast plans change, but then again, Pitch was an evil genius who had learned the hard way that you had to be flexible. That trait was missing in most evil villains, Pitch had noticed. Even his newest ally, Syndrome, was still very much set in his ways.

* * *

Despite their short training time, Frozone felt the team was doing pretty well. Ice, Jack had informed them, was to be the element of choice in this battle, as it defeated Pitch's sand remarkably well. However, the Winter Spirit continued to do his own thing, flying close to Pitch's cage and throwing hard packed snowballs at it. As Frozone blasted ice in every direction, he noted that Jack's face was an odd mixture of fear, anger, and confusion.

Elsa was struggling the most, of course, but that had been expected, and the others were subtly looking after her. Peri flew almost directly above her, protecting her from aerial attacks. Jack, when he wasn't throwing snowballs, would make a wide sweep around the girls, giving them a bit of breathing room. As for himself, Frozone had built an ice-boarding roller coaster track around them, leaving only a few specific spots the sand could penetrate. It seemed as if they were winning.

But then Pitch laughed.

Frozone realized too late that it was a trap. From every open crack and crevice, the sand poured into the ice cage. Jack instantly flew down to help, flying over the entire area and freezing everywhere he saw black. And although he couldn't see, Frozone could hear Elsa panicking on the inside. He knew she was doing the exact same thing.

"Jack, Elsa, stop!" Frozone yelled, snowboarding closer.

Pitch saw him and sent a thick wall of nightmare sand. By the time Frozone had blasted through it, Elsa and Peri were trapped in a rough ball of ice. To Jack and Frozone's horror, all of Pitch's sand, save the tower that was supporting his safety cage, amassed above the igloo, and came down with a thundering crash, breaking the ice.

Frozone and Jack raced down to help, but Pitch saw them. He pulled a small device from underneath his dark cloak pressed a button. Frozone and Jack were frozen in time, only their eyes able to move as they were surrounded by a pulsing, blue electric glow.

_Syndrome,_ Frozone thought. _Impossible. He can't be alive. Maybe he just sold some equipment to Pitch. _

Laughing, Pitch waved his hands and the black sands parted, revealing Elsa and Peri lying on the ground amidst broken fragments of ice. Elsa looked like she was unconscious, and Peri was clearly struggling to stand. One of her wings even looked broken. Helplessly, Frozone watched as Pitch casually swooped down and lifted Peri with one arm. She struggled valiantly, but the Nightmare sand soon enveloped her and she grew still. Pitch looked back at the others and laughed cruelly.

"Pathetic," he spat.

He pushed a button on the remote and the two fell to the ground.

"You get Peri, I'll take care of Elsa," Frozone said, running to the queen.

Now that he was closer, he could see that she was being tortured by the Nightmare sand. Quickly he blasted it with ice and a chilling wind (one that he was personally quite proud of, since it was the first time he had ever conjured wind).

"Elsa, Elsa! Wake up!"

Groaning, Elsa pushed herself to a sitting position, clasping one hand to her forehead in pain. She blinked once in the harsh light, then her eyes flew wide open in fright. Turning, Frozone saw Syndrome floating in the air behind Pitch, his finger pointing. And then he saw Jack, falling unconsciously.

"Jack!" Frozone yelled.

Elsa, weak as she was, stood up and lunged forward in one swift motion, creating a snow mound for him to land on. Frozone looked down at her in surprise, about to praise her when he noticed she had collapsed again.

"I guess I'm on babysitting duty," he muttered, glaring at the retreating figures of Pitch and Syndrome.

* * *

It was several hours before Jack woke up. Frozone figured it must be one heck of a stun gun to put a Guardian out of action for that long.

"Hey, kid," he said wearily. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Whoa. Ok. Somebody want to tell me what happened?"

"You don't remember?" Frozone was surprised.

"Not much. But I know something must have happened for you to look so shocked. Also, Elsa's acting like a pouting puppy."

"I am not," Elsa said.

She had created a soft snow armchair and had curled up on the seat. She looked exactly like a pouting puppy.

"Well, Pitch froze you and me with one of Syndrome's weapons, then took Peri and made Elsa go into a Nightmare of some sort."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Nobody asked you to. Anyway, Pitch let us go. I went to help Elsa, you went after Peri. Syndrome appeared out of nowhere and stunned you. You fell unconscious, Peri's gone, and the mortal enemy of all superheroes is back from the dead. Tell me if you wouldn't look shocked."

"Ok, I get the picture. Now that I've had a nap and you two have had more than enough time to mope around, let's start looking for Peri."

"Where? How?" Elsa asked in a monotone.

"I have some ideas of where to start, and of course North and Tooth have their system that's still ongoing."

"They have Syndrome on their team," Frozone insisted. "Don't you realize what that means?"

"Uh, yeah. Another bully we get to beat up!"

_This kid is gonna kill me._ "No, it means they have ways of making themselves completely invisible. Syndrome was…is the best cloaker in the world."

"And we're the best ice team in the world," Jack reminded them.

"Yeah, and look what happened to us. We let them take away one of our own."

"Which is exactly why we need to find her. Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or…"

"Or forgotten," Elsa finished, jumping up and standing on her chair. "Jack's right. Enough moping around!"

"Great! Let's go!"

He flew towards her rapidly, but she held up a hand.

"Oh no. I'm not doing that again. "I didn't just mope around for three hours. I thought of a way I could travel independently."

"Really? What did you do that for? Don't you enjoy flying around with me?" Jack smirked.

A snowball hit him squarely in the face, although Elsa's hand didn't move. Frozone struggled to hide a chuckle.

"Not usually do I enjoy flying at breakneck speeds holding onto some guy I've never met before," Elsa said dryly. "Plus I wasn't sure if you were going to wake up again. What if you were taken like Peri? What if I'm taken and have to find my way back on my own. I can't walk."

"I see your point," Jack said, feigning disappointment. "What's your plan?"

In response, Elsa closed her eyes and slowly raised her hands. Snow began rising from the ground, and in less than a minute had taken the shape of a beautiful white mare. Her face and hooves were made of clear ice, and on her back was a beautifully carved ice saddle covered in inlaid frost designs.

"Whoa," Jack said.

"How strong is that thing?" Frozone asked. The horse whinnied at him. "Sorry, how strong is that girl?"

Elsa vaulted onto the saddle. "Strong enough. I made the bones out of ice; the rest is hard snow."

Frozone laughed. "Watch out, girl. You're confidence is growing."

"And the mane?" Jack asked, running his fingers through the delicate strands.

"It's soft snow, but I have no idea how it's sticking together."

"I don't care how it was done but that is some kind of gorgeous," Frozone said. "I may take a break from snowboarding to ride that beauty."

"Climb on."

"So, now can we leave?" Jack asked.

Elsa grinned at him and spurred her horse into a quick canter. Jack caught up a few seconds later.

"What are you going to name her?" Jack asked, pointing his staff at the horse.

"I was thinking about Snowflake."

"Oh, come on! That is so cliche."

"Well, I like it!"

"So where are we going, exactly?" Frozone yelled over the wind, hoping to cut through their argument.

"Back to Burgess. I want to check Pitch's old hideout."

"That's too obvious. No way he's going to be there."

"But it might give us some clues!" Elsa yelled.

"Now you're talking!" Jack whooped. "That's exactly what I was thinking. Even if we don't find anything, it's a good place to start."

Jack wanted to use the snowglobe, but realized they only had a few left. But it was a good way to see what Elsa's new steed, whom they named Ice Wind, was capable of. With her help, they reached Burgess in only two short hours, slowing down only when they reached the woods. Carefully, Jack flew around the old opening. It had closed the last time Pitch had been defeated, but now it was open again.

"Someone's definitely been here," Frozone said.

"And not something good," Elsa remarked, struggling to keep Ice Wind still.

"Something we should definitely check out!" Jack said cheerfully.

Carefully, Elsa, Jack, and Frozone made their way down the tunnel. Ice Wind was not happy about being left behind, but stayed quiet. The tip of Jack's staff glowed faintly with blue ice, creating only a little light. It was dark, damp, and smelled incredibly foul. In short, not a very pleasant place. The air cleared a little bit when the reached the cavern, but it was still musty. Nobody was home.

"Looks like nothing's lived here in a while," Frozone said.

"Not lived," Jack said, perched on the old globe. "But Pitch was definitely here not too long ago. Look."

A black file cabinet stood in the shadows. Some drawers were on the floor, some sitting askew. The one thing they all had in common was the emptiness.

"So it was abandoned," Elsa said. "Any clues as to where they went?"

"Not exactly," Jack said sheepishly.

"But now we know at least one place where Pitch is not," Frozone said confidently. "It doesn't look like he'll be coming back any time soon, either. But here's what I'm thinkin'. Pitch and Syndrome are going to need a good fortress. One that's well hidden, has lots of space, and is heavily guarded. Jack, do you think that Pitch has had time to build another place like that since his "death?""

"Not a chance," Jack said. "That was too recent."

"Same thing with Syndrome. So if they don't have a new place, then they're going to use one of their old places."

"Syndrome had a lair, didn't he?" Elsa asked.

"Girl, you on a roll!" Frozone held up a hand to high five her. Elsa just looked confused. "Never mind, I'll explain later. Yes, he does have a lair. And I know where it is."

"Good, where is it?" Jack asked. "We should get started."

"Well, the thing is, you can't travel by horse. Syndrome's lair is on a volcanic island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."

"That's, like, the polar opposite of our powers," Jack said.

"Which makes perfect sense as to why they would stay there," Elsa said with a sigh. "Is there room for all the missing kids to stay?"

"More than enough," Frozone said. "It takes up the whole island."

"Then if I were Pitch, that's exactly where I'd be," Jack said. "So. Let's find some transportation, shall we?"


	12. Chapter 11: Peri

A strange buzzing slowly brought Peri into consciousness. Her arms were incredibly sore, but when she tried to lower them she discovered she could not move. Finally, her vision focused, and she took in her surroundings. The buzzing seemed to be coming from a blue glow that connected her arms and legs to an upright metal ring. Her wings had been bound to her body by a hard substance she couldn't name.

"Where am I?" she whispered, looking into the darkness beyond her cage.

"Welcome to Syndrome's torture chamber!" Syndrome exclaimed enthusiastically, walking from a desk with blinking lights to come closer. "Here you can experience near-drowning, electric shocks, total isolation, starvation, general uncomfortableness, and more!"

Peri struggled to break free. "Where are the others?" she asked, trying to be ferocious.

Deep in the darkness, two yellow eyes laughed cruelly. "We left them on the plains of Kansas," Pitch said, gliding forward. "Jack and Elsa were unconscious, and Frozone chose to stay with them. They abandoned you."

"That's not true," Peri said. "There has to be an explanation."

"An explanation, or a pathetic excuse?" Syndrome asked, sounding truly puzzled. Then he shrugged. "Huh. You got me there. Anyway, let's get started on these experiments."

Peri's whole body tensed. "What sort of experiments?"

"The ones where we find out what we can use you for!" Syndrome said excitedly.

He had moved back to the desk. After examining them for a moment, he pulled a lever and watched eagerly. A sharp, electric pulse surged through her. Peri screamed as her whole body convulsed. A few terrible seconds later, it was over. Gasping for air and eyes wide with fright, she stared at Syndrome, waiting for an explanation.

"Oh, look at those readings! They're off the charts! Tell me, what makes you "magic?" Is it some kind of special substance? There has to be some kind of scientific explanation."

"He's magic," Peri said weakly, glancing at the cat-like eyes staring at her from the corner. "Why can't he tell you?"

"Because I don't know," Pitch said truthfully. "And I'm hoping you can provide the answers I so desperately need to win this bitter war with the Guardians."

"Thanks for giving me a reason not to reply," Peri said.

Angered, Syndrome pushed a different button. It produced the same pain and reaction as before but gave different results. This time, he had found what he was looking for.

"Ooh, what are all those blue dots of your skin?" he asked.

Peri looked down and gasped. Somehow, the pixie dust that had been absorbed into her body and was sprinkled on her skin had become visible. Her entire body was glowing with billions of tiny dots, from her delicate feet to her shimmering hair. Even the hard white case which surrounded her torso and trapped her wings was shining from the underlying pixie dust.

Syndrome ran forward and ran a hand along her arm. A few pieces stuck to his glove and he fingered them gently. Delighted, Pitch did the same.

"Fairy dust," he proclaimed. He saw Peri close her eyes in despair. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Technically, we call it Pixie Dust," she said quietly.

"I wonder what would happen if we took it out of her," Syndrome said eagerly, rubbing his hands together. He ran back to the desk and began pressing buttons.

"No!" she cried, desperate. "You'll kill me!"

Nothing was happening...yet. But she knew he was planning something when he pulled two other big metal objects forward.

"Then talk," Pitch said. "Tell us where your friends are hiding and what your plan is."

"If you wanted my friends, you should have taken them on the plains when you took me."

Pitch sent forth tendrils of dreams and towards her and created a second prison around the fairy. Suddenly, Peri was blind. She could not see or hear anything, even when she tried to look down for her glowing body and tried yelling for help. Nothing. Not only that, she had lost all feeling in her outstretched arms. The only sense she could sense was fear. Pure, uncontrollable terror. As she spiraled into a full blown panic attack, one sound came creeping in. It was unmistakably Pitch's cruel, evil laughter. This did not help the situation.

Finally, the sand receded back into Pitch's smirking form.

"Now those readings, those were way off the charts," Syndrome said. "I'm going to have to build new charts, just for you! What do you say to that, fairy?"

Peri was still trying to catch her breath from the last attack. Her whole body shuddered as she struggled not to cry. Smoothly, Pitch glided right up to face.

"Answer me," he growled in a menacing tone.

"We don't have our own headquarters, and we don't have a plan," Peri said. "We're nothing special!"

Pitch clucked his tongue pityingly. "Take it up to the next level," he said to Syndrome.

Syndrome nodded and began to fit the other two pieces of metal to Peri's ring.

"I'm not lying!" she insisted. "That's the truth!"

"No," Pitch said sadly. "It's what you thought was the truth."

"We were going to take your dust anyway," Syndrome said roughly as he slid the last piece into place.

Now, Peri was enclosed in a metal ball, with large black tubes connecting it to a jar outside. A moment later, it felt as if the air itself was being sucked out of the cell as the vacuums were turned on. Peri screamed as the wind whipped around her at an astonishing rate, taking the dust away from her.

It took ten minutes and three sessions to extract all of it. The third time, Syndrome inserted tiny tubes into her blood stream and used a mixture of his science and Pitch's magic to get every last speck. By the time they were finished and had placed Peri back in her original prison, she was utterly drained and devoid of magic. Her skin had turned from pale white to ashen gray, and without the suspension holding her up, she would have collapsed.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Syndrome said in false kindness. "Can you imagine the impact your contribution will have on science, weapons, and humanity in general?"

Unable to speak, Peri summoned the last of her energy and spat at his feet. She didn't even see his hand coming, and Pitch wasn't even sure what came first: Syndrome's slap or Peri's faint.

* * *

Syndrome was gone when Peri came to, but his partner was lounging comfortably, almost casually, on a nearby chair.

"Good morning," he said innocently.

"Where's the other guy?"

"Syndrome? He's gone off to his lab to have your dust and data analyzed." Pitch frowned irritably. "He does not understand that magic cannot be simply explained. He keeps insisting that magic is just science he doesn't understand yet." Peri looked at him strangely. "I'm sure you are wondering how our strange alliance came to be."

"Actually, yes."

"As annoyingly childish and stubborn as he is, we needed each other. I used to reign supreme, hundreds of years ago in the Dark Ages. Then the Moon picked the Guardians-North, Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny-to defeat me and chase fear out of the world. For years, I lay dormant, unable to regain my former power, until I met Syndrome. His technology was able to help gain the enormous energy needed to surprise the Guardians, including helping me create the Nightmare sand. Unfortunately, thanks to Jack, I didn't last long. But thanks to Syndrome, neither has my defeat."

"Ok," Peri said, thinking quickly. Maybe she could trick him into revealing part of his plan. "But why does Syndrome need you? Why are you hanging around?"

Pitch grimaced. "As much as it pains me, I am still in his debt. He has helped me twice, I saved him from death only once."

"Frozone said he thought Syndrome was dead," Peri remembered.

"After escaping a battle, his cape caught in a turbine and nearly killed him," Pitch confirmed. "I was able to use my magic and transport him back to the island while blowing up the ship. Everyone was convinced that he was dead."

"What stopped you from defeating us in Kansas?" Peri asked suddenly, hoping to catch Pitch off guard.

Instead, he only looked mildly amused. "I had what I wanted," he answered simply. "I defeated your group, and I had captured you."

"But you didn't defeat us. The others are still out there, and they're coming for me," Peri said. "Shouldn't you be scared of us?"

Pitch genuinely laughed. "Me? Fear you lot? That…that is really good. Why should I be afraid of you?" He walked over and leaned into her face. "I have defeated you once, and now I'm destroying you little by little, bit…by…bit. And to think, you thought you could guess what was going on in my mind." He looked at her almost hungrily. "So innocent… Well. I'll soon fix that."

Refusing to be frightened, she glared at him. "Jack, Elsa, and Frozone are still coming, and they'll be mad!"

Again, he looked at her in a mixture of pity and confusion. "You trust them so much. But why would they come after you? Elsa is almost too afraid to move, Jack is used to being a loner, and Frozone didn't even believe you existed. And, honestly, it's not like they need you. You're the weak link. The real question is, why are _you_ still hanging around?"

Suddenly, the doors slid open, letting in a blast of sharp light. Syndrome's silhouette stood in the doorway triumphantly. Blinking in the light, Peri didn't even see him, she was so shaken.

"I don't think Peri likes it in here," he declared. Pitch rolled his eyes and glanced back at him. "It's too dark and dingy. Let's move her outside."

"No!" Pitch yelled. "I can put up with your other unpredictable moves, but not this. Sunlight brings hope, which we cannot give her."

"Hear me out, hear me out!" Syndrome said, holding up his hands in a placating manner. "She has no magic, and her wings won't work with the brace on." He began giggling hysterically. "She'll be helpless to the locals."

Sighing, Pitch looked back at Peri's weak form, thinking.

"That could work," he said after a moment. "Throw her out."

Syndrome raced over to the desk and released Peri. She fell to the floor with a cry; her arms and legs had fallen asleep and would not support her. Pitch snapped, and a net of Nightmare sand surrounded her. Again, she felt the world fade around her into a restless slumber.

When she woke, she was alone in a wild, overgrown jungle. There were a few big, colorful flowers, but mostly there were thorny bushes and weedy undergrowth. Through the thick canopy of leaves, she could see a massive volcano against a clear blue sky. Peri spotted a bush with large, broad leaves, and slowly crawled under its shelter. In vain, she tried to tear off the restricting brace that her captors had left on her. But the material was too smooth, and if there was a secret to its release, she could not find it. Even if she still had her pixie dust, Peri would have been unable to fly, and now she wouldn't be able to run very quickly either since the brace extended to her upper legs.

Silent tears streamed down her cheeks as her entire situation hit her in a rush. She was stranded in a wide jungle with no means of defense, and with no hope of rescue. Pitch's words had hit hard.

_He's right. Why would they come for me?_

The tears turned into violent sobs that heaved through her body.

_I wish Tinkerbell was here,_ Periwinkle thought desperately. _If only I knew the magic that brought me here, I could bring her to me._

Suddenly there was a loud roar and sounds of a wild animal fight from somewhere nearby. Peri's breath caught in her throat and she tried to silence her grief.

_And Fawn,_ she added.


	13. Chapter 12: Elsa

While they were gone, North had been busy creating a special airplane that allowed them to safely use their powers within. Elsa was still hesitant, but Frozone insisted that it would be the fastest and most accurate way to the island. Jack found the whole thing fascinating, and flew through the interior examining everything multiple times. The main cabin was a spacious oval, mostly empty except for seats around the edge. To make up for the plain, curving grey walls, North had placed a luxurious red carpet on the floor. A sliding door separated them from the cockpit.

"What do all the buttons do?" he asked the yeti pilot.

The yeti grumbled and pushed Jack out of the cockpit, closing the door behind him. Jack sat crosslegged on the floor and crossed his arms.

"He said 'go away,'" he informed the other passengers.

No one has asked; Elsa was too nervous, and Frozone was trying to come up with a plan to rescue Peri. Both of them were tense, which provided Jack with a perfect excuse for testing the plane. He flew around the cabin (again) dragging his staff behind him and coating the whole thing in ice, nearly flying into Frozone but turned at the last second. By the time he had completed the circuit, the whole thing had melted.

"Cool," he said with a grin. "Or, should I say, hot?"

Elsa attempted a weak smile, but just then the plane lurched suddenly and she gripped the handles of her seat tightly. If it hadn't been so warm, ice would have covered the plane already. Jack turned back to the wall and held his hand in front of it experimentally. It didn't feel hot until he was only an inch away, but outside that area it felt only slightly warm, even chilly in places.

"Frozone, look at this!"

He ran over to Frozone and grabbed his hand, pushing it through the same motions.

"That's nice, Jack," he said dryly.

Despite her fear, Elsa let go of the chair and did the same thing.

"How does it do that?" she asked curiously.

"Some sort of force field," Frozone said. "Modern science stuff you wouldn't understand."

"Magic," Jack countered. "And she could understand science, it would just take longer and would be a little harder because she didn't grow up hearing about it like you did."

When Frozone didn't answer, Jack moved on to testing the new heat system against snowballs. Elsa watched his proceedings with interest; if anything, it at least took her mind off the fact that they were flying trapped in a machine thousands of feet in the air, on a rescue mission that could involve contact. First, he formed one in his hand and slowly moved it forward. The entire thing melted the second that part of it entered the heat barrier. The same thing happened when he created a snow mound at his feet and made it connect.

"What if it happens suddenly?" Elsa asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, right now you're making the snow and then touching it purposefully. But what if something happens accidentally? How fast would it melt?"

"Basically you're asking if there are sensors," Jack summed up. "Good question."

In an instant, he had spun around and thrown a snowball at the opposite wall. It would have worked had not Frozone's head been in the way.

"Oops."

"Cut it out, will you?" Frozone snapped, brushing the snow out of his eyes. His visor had not been down. "This is serious!"

"That was serious," Jack pointed out. "And we seriously didn't know you were sitting there."

Frozone scowled at him. "Sure you didn't."

"Besides, you need to lighten up a bit."

"Now you listen young man..."

Jack scoffed. "I'm 300."

This did not seem to throw Frozone off guard. In fact, it only made him angrier.

"I don't care if you're 17, 300, or 2,000! You're acting immaturely! While you've been goofing off, I've been trying to think of a plan so that we all live to see tomorrow."

"Yeah, well..."

"Guys," Elsa interrupted.

She had risen from the chair and jumped between them with her hands outstretched. Both men went from angry to wary, which really wasn't that surprising considering they each had a bright blue glowing hand inches from their face.

"Let me handle this," Frozone tried to say normally.

She might not have picked up on their nervousness, but Jack decided to say something as well.

"Yeah, maybe you should just sit out on this one."

Elsa could see the fear in his eyes and unease in his voice. Hurt, she turned and ran back to her seat, curling up in a ball with her back to the boys and her hands right up against the heat shell. She tried to tune out the sound of their intensifying argument. Her peace offering had somehow made it worse and accomplished the opposite of her goals. How she wished Peri was there!

'This never happened when Peri was...that's it!'

Elsa sat up suddenly.

"Guys, stop!" she pleaded. "This is what Pitch wants! He's trying to turn us against each other!"

Jack, who was in the middle of a stinging retort, stopped cold and closed his mouth.

"The first time I battled him," he continued after a moment, "he was able to use me to start an argument that turned everyone against me. I think you're right. I'm sorry."

There was a moment of tense silence.

"Wait," Elsa said abruptly. "You told me you were ice-proof...is that true or did you lie to me?"

Jack shot more ice at Frozone. It passed harmlessly through his legs. "There. We weren't lying. That was Pitch manipulating our fears and blurring the facts. He does that."

"Oh."

"I should have seen it coming," Frozone said out of nowhere. "I mean, Pitch taking Peri."

"You weren't the only one to blame," Jack said. "I know how he works. I should have done something, or dodged the ray, or something!"

"Look at us," Elsa said despairingly. "We're a mess. How did we ever think we could work together? Do we have anything in common besides our powers?"

"Yeah," Jack said after a moment. "And that's why we thought we could work together. Almost all of us have younger sisters. Or had, in my case."

"What?!"

"I died saving her life," he explained. "That why the Moon made me a Guardian. I lost my memory when I died, so I only recently remembered her. I guess...well, never mind."

"What?" Elsa prompted gently.

"It sounds stupid."

"You started to think of Peri as your little sister, didn't you?"

Jack looked up in surprise. "How did you know?"

"Because I've done the same thing."

There was a moment of silence, though this time it wasn't as tense. Elsa looked over at Frozone.

"What about you? Do you have a sister, or kids?"

Frozone sighed. "Honey and I can't have children," he confessed. "So I tend to get attached to pretty much every kid that crosses my path. I guess that makes me feel responsible for them too."

"I don't think anyone but Jack was really ready for him," Elsa said softly. "But now that we know what we're up against, maybe we'll be better prepared."

"But we don't have the whole team," Jack said.

"Well," Elsa said firmly, with as much queenly grace as she could muster. "We'll have to do the best we can."

There was a buzzing overhead and the yeti's voice came over the intercom. The others looked at Jack for a translation.

"He said we're nearing the island." Cautiously, he slid open the door and poked his head inside. "How much longer, Dan?"

Before Dan could reply, another voice came over the radio.

"This is island tower," a woman said politely. "We can not accept planes to this station now, please turn around."

"Uh...don't answer," Jack said quickly.

"What's going on?" Frozone asked.

"They've picked up on us," Jack said. "What should we do?"

"Prepare to jump down into the water. Syndrome's got weapons, we don't stand a chance in the air."

As if to confirm this, Syndrome's voice yelled into the radio.

"Missiles are now heading your way, enjoy your ride!"

"Incoming!" Frozone yelled, opening a hatch at the back of the plane. He and Elsa jumped.

"Dan, get out of here!" Jack yelled as he flew out after them.

Elsa closed her eyes as they plunged deep into the warm waters. There was an explosion a moment later above the surface.

"There goes the plane," Frozone said with a sigh. "North isn't going to be too happy about that."

"I just hope Dan made it through the portal in time," Jack said worriedly. "Elsa, you can look now. How'd you do this?"

Elsa opened her eyes and saw that she had created an ice slide going down, ending in the little air bubble they were safely sitting in now.

"Um...I honestly don't know."

"It doesn't matter," Frozone said. "Now we have to focus on getting to shore without being detected."

Jack pushed down on the floor of their bubble, expanding it until they slid to the ocean floor.

"We'll walk underwater," he said, grinning.

"Will the air hold up?" Frozone asked.

"We're not that far. If you're worried about it, stop talking and help me."

Instead, Elsa walked over and flicked her hand out. The long tunnel appeared almost instantly, and she began running down it.

"What are you waiting for?" she called back innocently.

Frozone laughed and joined her. "Watch out, I think she's growing more confident."


	14. Chapter 13: Frozone

**Author's Note: Alright! Whatever was wrong is fixed now. So, here's chapter 13! (Sorry it's so short.)**

* * *

They emerged a few minutes later on the beach, almost completely dry from their ocean experience.

"Quick, hide in the jungle," Jack said. "They'll be on high alert looking for us."

"Do we have a plan?" Elsa asked as they ducked into the trees.

"Jack's right," Frozone said. "They'll be on high alert. If we can get them to panic and look one way, know of a secret passage to get in. I suggest sending Jack in, since not everyone will be able to see him, if anyone, to set off the fire alarm. Sound good?"

"You got it," Jack said. "Where do I meet you when I'm through?"

"I don't know the layout too well. If you can't find us, then fly out and back up the tunnel."

"What tunnel?"

Frozone sighed and tried to be patient. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you."

"Or, he can just enter through the tunnel anyway, set off the…whatever it is, and then backtrack to meet us," Elsa pointed out.

"That too." Frozone took out his cell phone and looked through his email. "Ha! Got it. Ok, I feel much better about this plan, now."

"Why, what's that?" Elsa asked.

"Bob just texted me a map of the island and layout of the building! It includes fire alarms and exits."

"What if the tunnel is a fire exit?" Jack asked. "We don't want to run into fleeing people."

"No, it's not an exit. It would be too hard to get out that way." He swatted away a bee irritably. "Hurry, I want to get out of this sun."

They reached the tunnel a few minutes later, and carefully crept through it. For a good 500 feet it was ordinary cave rock, then it fused into cement. Frozone and Elsa's feet echoed through the chamber loudly.

"Will they be able to hear us?" Elsa whispered.

"Unless they're either building another rocket, or they've turned the room into something else, I don't think they should."

"A rocket? Cool!" Jack said excitedly.

"What's a rocket?" Elsa asked as she lay a carpet of snow to muffle their footsteps.

"It's like a plane, but it's bigger, faster, and it flies higher," he explained.

Frozone took out his scanner and scanned the area ahead. "So far there's no giant machinery, or people where we're headed. Both of which mean good news."

Finally, they reached a large grate in the ceiling above them. Frozone and Elsa stayed in the shadows while Jack tried to fly through the metal. It took him a couple of tries, but he got it eventually.

"Catch ya later!" he whispered.

"Be careful!" Frozone hissed. "If people know who Pitch is, then they might be able to see you!"

Jack gave them a thumbs up and a wink before disappearing. Frozone groaned and sank back against the wall.

"We need Peri back," Elsa whispered.

"Agreed," he said.

He tried to take out his scanner to scan again, only to realize he'd dropped it. Silently cursing, he quickly ran back down the tunnel to find it before Jack returned.

"Wait," Elsa called quietly.

Frozone turned and put a finger to his lips. "I have to find it. Go without me if you need to."

Then he turned and kept running. It hadn't fallen very far away, but it had fallen on Elsa's snow, which had muffled the snow. As he bent down to pick it up, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. There was a hidden door against the cement, another secret exit. Experimentally, he pushed on it, and it swung open with ease. Another cave tunnel ran deeper into the island, and upon scanning it, Frozone found hundreds of life signs.

"The kids," he said.

At that moment, the fire alarm went off, sounding through the whole building. Turning, Frozone raced to catch up with Jack and Elsa, but when he returned to the large cavern, they had already gone up. For a second, he stood there, contemplating what course to take.

On one hand, he could catch up with Jack and Elsa and continue with the original plan. On the other, the tunnel could lead him straight to the kids and provide him with vital information. He could go get his two teammates and bring them to the tunnels, but that could waste time and they might learn more split apart.

He never really knew what made up his mind, only that he abruptly turned and started running back to the new tunnel. This one didn't run as far, and it was all natural, save the metal door at the end. This, too, opened with no complications.

_Syndrome's got to work on his security_, he thought as he ventured into the dark room.

At first glance, hundreds, even thousands of children were being suspended in the air against the walls of the room. Then, once Frozone's eyes adjusted to the dim light, he could see that each individual was held in a blue, transparent box that seemed to be made out of energy. Inside the box, metal chains secured them to the wall. There was absolute silence in the room, although most of the children were clearly crying and screaming.

Quickly, Frozone ran around, looking for Jamie, Sophie, or Margo. As he did, he discovered the that the blue boxes blocked out vision as well as sound. He could see in, but they couldn't see out. Each one thought he or she was completely alone in the dark world, with no hope of rescue.

As he didn't see any children he knew, Frozone ran into the next room. This one was fashioned in the same way, only smaller. And in these boxes there were adults. These boxes seemed to let them see outside, for they all turned and looked at him, shouting for help. Again, no noise. Then, much to his alarm, he spotted Jamie being interrogated by Syndrome at the far end of the room.

"You were their friend," Syndrome was saying. "They must have told you where their base was."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jamie yelled defiantly. "Or _who_ you're talking about!'

"I am talking about the so called "Just-ice League," which consists of your friend Jack, my enemy Frozone, Elsa, and Peri. Now tell me where they are!"

Frozone had seen enough. In a rage, he ran out and charged, aiming his ice at Syndrome. With a sigh, Syndrome turned and caught Frozone in suspended animation.

"Really? That's sooo predictable! I'm a little disappointed in you. You fell right into my trap." He smirked.

_No_, he thought. _Jack and Elsa! I left them alone…they don't even know where I am._

"I knew you would come to save me!" Jamie said, grinning.

_And a fine job we did of that._

"Oh yeah, this is going really well," Syndrome said sarcastically. "Hmm, what shall the great and mighty Syndrome do now? Ooh! I know!"

He flung Frozone against the wall, where the ray broke and released the ice. Now that it was free, the ice shot towards Jamie, and there was nothing Frozone could do to stop it. Jamie cried out in pain as he collapsed to the ground

"Don't you dare!" Frozone yelled as he charged again.

This time, Syndrome watched him running towards him in amusement, and didn't even lift a finger. Before Frozone took more than two steps, he was enveloped in black nightmare sand.

"So predictable…" came Pitch's voice as Frozone drifted to sleep.

* * *

When he came around, he found himself in the same situation as the rest of the adults: chained to the wall and contained in a blue box. Syndrome and Pitch stood over him mockingly, their lips moving in silent insults. Frozone tried to look around for the other adults, but he couldn't see them.

_Must be some kind of magic_, he thought blearily. _Wait…where's Jamie?_

Jamie was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he remembered the ice hitting him, and the boy collapsing.

"Jamie!" he yelled, though he knew it was no use. _God, I hope that kid is must be what Elsa feels like 24/7_, he realized. _Jack is going to kill me… _"I gotta get out of here."

He looked down at his shackled hands and tried to use his ice to break them. But something in the energy field prevented it. Angry, he looked back at the two villains standing above him triumphantly.

"Alright, Syndrome! You asked for it!"

Planting his feet against the wall, he leaned towards the barrier, straining against the chains. Frozone may not have possessed Mr. Incredible's power, but he was still extremely strong. Syndrome and Pitch's expressions went from amusement to shock as the chains broke apart from the wall. Then, mustering all the energy in his body, Frozone threw himself against the barrier. A sharp, electric pulse flowed through his body, but he pressed on until he was nearly unconscious. Finally, Pitch snapped, and the barrier broke completely. The world immediately brightened, and he could see the other adults. But by this time, all of Lucius' energy was drained, and he was unable to fight.

"This one is stronger than he looks," Pitch remarked. "Perhaps you should take him to a containment chamber."

"No," Frozone whispered weakly as he was dragged away.


	15. Chapter 14: Jack

14\. Jack

Setting off the alarm was easy. All Jack had to do was shoot it with frost and it malfunctioned. Grinning, he flew back to the bathroom—where, embarrassingly, the tunnel had ended—and signaled for Elsa and Frozone to come up.

"Where's Frozone?" he asked as Elsa ran up her ice stairs.

"He dropped his thingy," Elsa said. "Back in the tunnels. He went to get it, and told me to go ahead if he wasn't back by the time you returned."

Jack bit his lip. "We shouldn't split up, but we can't stay here, either. C'mon, let's find the kids."

Quietly, they ran through the building, which was empty thanks to the alarm. Or maybe not many people were here in the first place.

"This looks promising," Jack said, opening a large, impressive door.

Inside was a large conference table with chairs, completely empty. The opposite wall was the volcanic rock, and part of it had been cut away to reveal a view of the island.

"Well, that's disappointing," Jack sighed. "I had hoped there would be some sort of clue or…"

Suddenly, a piercing scream from the jungle cut him off.

"That's Peri!" Elsa said.

Without a word, Jack flew off, leaving Elsa on her own. He darted between trees, following the screaming, until he came to a clearing, where he saw Peri backed against a tree, facing a large, hungry looking tiger. A second later, the creature was frozen, and Peri had collapsed into Jack's arms.

"Are you ok?" he asked, panting.

Peri nodded and hugged him tighter. "I was afraid you wouldn't come."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because Pitch said…"

"Hey, listen to me." Jack peeled her away and took hold of her shoulders, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Pitch lies to create fear. He needs it to survive. But you can't believe him, because almost nothing he says is true."

"It sounded convincing," Peri said meekly.

"I know. I've been attacked that way, too. But you have to fight it, ok?"

Peri took a deep breath. "Ok."

"Good. Now come on, we've broken into his lair."

Jack started to fly away, but turned back when she didn't follow. She was looking at the ground, ashamed.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"They took my pixie dust. I can't fly."

"Well, we'll have to do something about that, won't we? Did you bring extra?"

"Yes, but it's at the Pole with North."

"See, there? It's not as bad as it seems."

"But having someone steal your fairy dust is one of the most shameful things in Pixie Hollow!"

Jack put a finger to her lips. "Then we won't tell anyone," he whispered. "It's our secret."

In spite of herself, Peri smiled. "Right."

"Hop on!" Jack said, turning.

Peri jumped on his back and they flew back in the window.

"Peri!" Elsa said with obvious relief. Peri jumped down and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're safe! We missed you."

"Really?"

"Of course! The boys kept arguing and I couldn't calm them down like you could."

Peri looked surprised. "Look out!" she said, pointing to the door.

Jack looked up in time to see a thin woman with white hair enter the room. She did not look happy to see them. Before he could react, ice had hit her. Elsa's ice.

"Good one," Jack said.

Then he noticed something strange. Instead of turning the woman to solid ice, the ice had hit her skin and frozen around her, encasing her in an ice cube. And then, to the shock of everyone, her eyes dimmed and shut with a click.

"Whoa," Elsa said. "That's never happened before."

Jack walked around the woman to investigate. "Of course! She's a "Mirage," a new type of robot. Syndrome must have invented it, of course."

"A robot?" Elsa asked. "I thought you said they were machines, not people."

"This is a new kind. They act like humans, they have independent thought and speak normally. They do your office work for you and become your perfect soulmate."

"That is weird," Peri said. "And Syndrome invented her?"

"Yep. That's why Elsa didn't freeze her solid. Her skin feels realistic, but on the inside she's metal. The ice just made her malfunction."

Elsa looked at the woman in disgust. "Let's get out of here. We need to find the kids."

"Right," Jack said. "On the map that Bob sent, I saw a room labeled computer room. We should probably check there, first."

"Do you know where to find it?" Elsa asked.

"Lucky for you ladies, I have an excellent memory," Jack said smugly. "Follow me."

"Where _is_ Frozone?" Peri asked.

"He dropped something on the way here and went to get it," Elsa said. She frowned. "I hope he's alright."

"Nah, he'll be fine," Jack said. "Now if I remember correctly, the computer room was near a volcano room. If that's the conference room…here!"

They entered the double doors and were met with a wave of heat. It was a large room filled with chairs, couches, and coffee tables. To their left, a gigantic wall of lava poured down, but somehow did not overspill into the lounge.

"So, where's the computer room?" Peri asked.

"The door is supposed to be through there," Jack said, pointing to the lava. "But I don't see how to open it."

"Maybe there's not much lava, and we can use our ice to get through it?" Peri suggested.

Jack looked dubious. "Not sure if that will work. Even if we combine all of our ice…that's a lot of lava and it's really hot."

"We have to try," Elsa said. "I can't go back to Mrs. Bennet knowing that I didn't try hard enough."

Jack's face hardened. "Ok. Let's do it. Everyone stand close together; when we break through, _run_. And no matter what, don't stop making ice."

Elsa linked arms with Jack, and Peri stood in front of them. Together, they raised their hands and blasted the lava. After only a few seconds, they managed to make a dent and form the beginnings of an ice tunnel.

"Now!" Jack yelled.

They plunged inside. The second they were in, the lava behind them fell back into place, trapping the three. Gulping, Jack threw more power into his ice and kept walking forward.

"Elsa, cover us from behind! Make sure the lava doesn't catch up with us."

Elsa nodded and turned.

"I can't make ice," Peri cried, suddenly remembering.

"Stay close," Jack said. "We should be out soon."

It was hard to tell, but he was certain they had come at least ten feet by now. The ice was melting almost faster than he could produce it, and Elsa was having the same problem behind him. Their arms were still linked, and he pulled her faster. They wouldn't be able to last much longer.

"I can't do it," Elsa gasped.

"Yes, you can! I believe in you, Elsa, come on!"

"Are we almost there?" Peri cried.

"We have to be," he said grimly.

Drips of moisture dripped down into his eyes, which he thought must be the ice melting on top of him. Then the water ran down into his mouth, and it was salty.

_Am I sweating? Eww. That's a first. We've got to get out of here._

But despite his appearances, his strength was failing, even Elsa could feel it. Was it him, or was it getting darker?

"Jack," she said pleadingly. "Please don't give up! You can't give up. Jamie's counting on you."

_Jamie,_ Jack thought, his vision clearing. "Hold on, Jamie! I'm coming!" he yelled. In his biggest blast yet, the lava opened to reveal a dark room. "There! I can see the end! It's not far, come on!"

Hope surged through all three of them, and they pressed onwards. Elsa turned and combined her force with Jack's, and they ran down towards the invisible opening. Behind them, the lava was closing in fast. With one last burst of energy, they broke through the lava wall and fell to floor. Elsa lay on her back, eyes closed, gasping for air. Exhausted tears ran down her face.

"Are you ok?" Jack asked hoarsely.

"Don't make me go through that again," Elsa whispered weakly. "Find another way out, stay here forever, but don't _ever_ ask me to do that again."

"No," Jack agreed. "We won't, I promise."

Shakily, he managed to stand and get his bearings. It was a dark room, almost pitch black, but small electric lights lit a pathway to a giant super computer. Slowly, keeping his eyes and ears open for a trap, he advanced towards the computer. Once he got there safely, he turned back to the girls.

"It's safe to come across," he called, his voice echoing. "But stay between the lights. I don't like what that means and I don't want to find out what's on the other side."

He started pressing buttons on the computer, but a login page appeared.

"What's that mean?" Elsa asked.

"It's asking for a password. It wants to make sure that it is Syndrome that's trying to look at the files, and nobody else."

"Except for Pitch," Peri pointed out. "He told me they're working together."

Jack typed in "PitchBlack" into the computer. Fail. "PitchandSyndrome," "PitchnSyndrome," both failed.

"Did he tell you anything else?" Jack asked Peri. "Anything that might be a clue?"

"Um…not really. He was pretty focused on my magic."

"What do you call it again? Fairy dust?"

"Pixie dust," Peri said with a sigh.

Jack typed in "PixieDust" into the computer. That was also incorrect. Elsa leaned over and simply typed in "ice." To their surprise, it actually worked.

"That was easy," Peri said.

"I don't think he was counting on us ever getting in," Jack pointed out. "Look! "List of Children." That should tell us something."

He clicked on the document and it popped open into an extensive list of names. Slowly, Jack scrolled down, searching for information.

"There's so many," Elsa whispered.

"Yeah, but were are they?" Peri asked.

Jack stopped scrolling and looked at her. "You're right. The names are here, but not the location. And you know what else? Has anyone else noticed that our voices echo in here? This has to be the biggest room in the lair…"

"Which means?" Elsa asked.

"They're here," Jack whispered.

He pointed his staff upward. Instantly, ice covered the ceiling, which was not far above, and spread to the walls. Where they all expected the walls to meet the floor, however, it continued to creep down. Jack leapt over the row of lights and fell through thin air. He stopped and slowly floated. As he had suspected, the children were in the room, held in glowing blue light boxes and chained to the wall.

"Jack?" Elsa called, leaning over the walkway.

"Careful, don't fall," Jack warned. "It's hard to see down here."

"Are they there?" Peri asked. "Did you find them?"

"Yes! Hang on, I'm trying to find Jamie." Swiftly, he flew around the room, peering into the little cells. "Hang on, I know a lot of these kids! Sherman, Russell…here's Margo, Edith, and Agnes, although I don't know where their parents are."

_North was right, there are kids from all over the world._

There was Mavis from Transylvania, Fernando from Brazil, and Hamish from Scotland, as well as dozens of more that he didn't know.

"We should leave while we still can," Peri called. "I need my pixie dust, and we still haven't found Frozone. He'll know how to free them."

"But we haven't found another way out," Elsa said.

"And I haven't found Jamie!" Jack yelled.

"Jack, the walls are opening!" Peri said. "Help!"

Loud noises of complicated machinery roared through the room as the walls and lava slowly parted. Jack shot up and grabbed the girls, then flew underneath the bridge just as Syndrome entered. Humming triumphantly, Syndrome casually walked over to the computer. They could hear him clacking away on the keyboard.

"What's he going?" Elsa whispered.

"Shh," Jack said.

"Let's see, where…ah. Adults," Syndrome said aloud. "F-r-o-z-o-ne, Frozone! And save." He laughed. "First Peri, now Frozone! My day just keeps getting better and better!"

His footsteps echoed above them as he walked back towards the lava. Jack looked at the girls in horror, but they kept silent. There was another round of mechanical noise as the walls shut behind him.

"Ok, now what?" Elsa asked when they were sure he was gone. "They have Frozone, we can't get help from him."

"Then we'll get help from North," Peri said. "Jack, was there another way out?"

"I saw another room," Jack said. "We could try that way."

"Well," Peri said as they flew down. "The good news is they don't know I'm gone yet."

"They assume you were eaten by a tiger," Jack said, putting them down. "It's this way."

"Jack. Look."

Turning, he saw Elsa looking upward at the children in cages. Two of them were Jamie and Sophie. Jack flew up to them, but they couldn't see him. Terrified, Sophie was leaning against the wall, crying. But Jamie different. He was lying on the energy floor of his cell, shivering and urgently talking to himself, but he was completely calm.

"Something's wrong," Peri said. "He's too cold, but none of the other children are like that."

"I know, I know," Jack said, looking at the boy intently.

Gradually, Jack was able to read his lips and figure out what he was saying. He could hear Jamie saying it, it was just what he would say:

I believe in Jack Frost, I believe in Jack Frost, I believe in Jack Frost, I BELIEVE IN JACK FROST!

"We have to get out of here!" Peri reminded him.

But Jack couldn't look away. He'd known Jamie had believed in him, but not to this extent. When Pitch had returned from the dead and kidnapped him, holding him in what Jamie believed to be isolation, he didn't hold on to his mother, or Sophie, or any old Guardian. He didn't try to escape, he was simply waiting. Jamie was giving power to his hero, the only one he believed could save him: Jack. Never in 300 years had Jack been so touched. In spite of himself, tears ran down his cold face, and he reached a hand out.

"Jack, we can't help him!" Elsa said.

For a second, Jack paused. He didn't want to endanger the lives of the other children, and he nearly turned away. He _almost_ walked away promising to return and save everyone. But then Jack looked at Jamie, soundlessly chanting.

I believe in Jack Frost, I believe in Jack Frost.

"We have to try," Jack said.

Without thinking, he took his staff and plunged it into the barrier. Jamie's eyes grew wide and he sat up suddenly.

JACK!

Then, to Jack's horror, a wave of electricity shocked Jamie into unconsciousness.

"No!" Jack yelled.

An alarm started to ring loudly throughout the whole lair. Elsa jumped and caught Jack's foot, dragging him down.

"Come on!" she yelled.

"Ok, you're right," Jack said. "We have to leave the island."


	16. Chapter 15: Elsa

"Run!" Elsa yelled, dragging him into the next room.

This one was full of adults, who yelled at them for help, but they ignored them and kept running.

"This must be where Frozone went," Jack said as they dashed through the open door and into the tunnel.

"Wait for me!" Peri said, stumbling behind.

"What happened to you?" Elsa asked as Peri jumped on Jack. "It was never a good time to ask."

"Is now any better?" Jack yelled.

"Syndrome took my pixie dust," Peri explained. "Now I can't fly or do magic."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Yeah, get back to the Pole!"

They had reached the end of the tunnel by this time, and Jack stopped.

"We can't stop now," Elsa hissed. "They could be following us!"

"Yeah, or they could be searching the island for escaping intruders."

"The jungle is huge," Peri said. "We can hide in there."

Quickly, they dashed across the opening and into the dense canopy of the trees. Their pace slowed, but they kept moving forward.

"Where exactly are we going?" Elsa asked breathlessly.

"I'm trying to decide what to do first. Break out Frozone or help Peri get her magic back."

"Guys," Peri whispered. "Don't look now but there is a very weird bird following us. Over your right shoulder, Jack."

Jack spun around and saw a bird with a mechanical eye flying behind them. The bird opened its beak and began to scream alarms.

"Back to the Pole, back to the Pole!" Elsa screamed, starting to run again.

"INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT," blared a loud voice across the entire island.

A minute later, they burst through the trees and onto the beach. Elsa was so scared she didn't stop, just kept running into the water. Jack and Peri, now flying behind her, were surprised to see the water turned to ice at her feet. But there was no time for questions. At that moment, drones began flying from the lair directly at them, firing guns. Elsa zig-zagged across the water, trying to avoid them. Some waves she leaped over. Others were so big she simply crashed through, breaking their momentum and leaving odd rings of ice in her wake.

"WHERE are we running TO?" Elsa demanded as she literally dodged a bullet.

"Crap, the plane blew up," Jack realized.

He shot a blast of ice towards one of the drones and knocked it out, but there were still five more. Groaning in frustration, Elsa built a huge ice bridge, bigger than she'd ever built before, and ran up it, above the drones. Then, she turned on the spot and knocked them all down at once.

"Beat that, Jack Frost," she exclaimed.

"Give me a break, I've got Peri and I was trying to come up with an escape plan."

Shading her eyes, Elsa looked back at the lair. "Where's that humming noise coming from?"

"Planes!" Jack realized. "Keep running!"

Elsa turned but in her haste forgot that she had left the bridge uncompleted. Screaming, she fell towards the water. Jack flew after her while simultaneously reaching in his pocket for a snowglobe. He caught her right as the planes fired missiles.

"South Pole!" Jack yelled, throwing the portal and diving through it.

With a sharp twist, they tumbled into the snow of Antarctica. Groaning, Elsa sat up and glared at Jack.

"What did you say South Pole for? We're supposed to be at the North Pole!"

"Yeah, well I thought I'd confuse them."

"They're not stupid," Peri said.

"Yeah…I realize that now. Sorry. But it doesn't matter. We can just go from here. Wait, where is it?"

"Please tell me that's ice," Elsa said, pointing at the clear shards on the snow.

"Um…" Jack nudged the pieces with his toe carefully. "I think that might be the snowglobe."

"It doesn't just magically reappear in your pocket?" Elsa demanded angrily.

"No, you're supposed to catch it as you go through. But I guess, because we were being chased, I forgot."

"Jack!" the girls yelled in frustration.

"Sorry."

He grinned helplessly. Elsa tried to stay mad at him, but it only lasted all of five seconds. It was, she was discovering, hard to stay mad at Jack Frost, Guardian of Fun.

"Never mind. Where do we go from here? I don't suppose you know your way around Antarctica, do you?"

"I've only been here once before, last time we fought Pitch. But I don't exactly have the whole continent memorized. Either way will get us going in the general direction of the North Pole, though. Come on!"

Reluctantly, Peri climbed on his back again. Grinning, he picked up Elsa by the waist and flew off.

* * *

They flew for several hours over blank, endless, never-changing landscape. But then, finally, there was a dramatic change in scenery. Ahead, near a clifftop, a large, twisting spire of blue and black ice rose from the tundra and curved dramatically, like a claw. Jack gasped and set the girls down in front of it.

"What is that?" Peri asked.

"Me," Jack replied. "This is what happened when I fought Pitch here."

Elsa shivered. "It's incredible…and terrifying."

"I know. He tried to convince me to join forces with him."

"What happened?" Peri asked.

"I said no, and he threatened to kill Babytooth unless I handed him my staff."

"You didn't do it?" Elsa said.

"Of course I did. But he didn't let Babytooth go, she freed herself and then Pitch broke my staff in half. My staff is like Peri's pixie dust. All my magic is inside here."

He turned around and started walking towards the cliff. "Pitch used his own magic to throw me down this chasm. I thought I was done for."

"And then?" prompted Elsa, looking over the edge.

"Babytooth gave me my memories back, which gave me the strength to fight on. Down there is where I pieced my staff back together."

"And that's where our ice mysteriously disappeared to?"

"Yep. That's it."

"But what really made it happen?"

"I don't know. Maybe the Moon knew you'd be needed to help defeat Syndrome and Pitch?"

"I don't really care," Peri said wearily. "I just need to get some more pixie dust. It's what keeps me alive."

"Right," Jack remembered. "The good news is I know where we are now. We're pretty close to Bunny's Warren. His tunnels can take us to the Pole almost as fast as the snowglobe."

"How much further?" Peri gasped.

"About two hours, I think. I don't know, it's hard to tell. I'm not used to carrying two extra people."

"Can you hold on that long?" Elsa asked Peri.

Peri shook her head. Elsa tilted her head thoughtfully for a moment; Jack let her think. Then, she lifted Peri back into the piggy-back position and frosted her over.

"Hmm, ice hammock," Jack said. "Not bad."

"What's a hammock?" Elsa asked.

"Considering you don't know what a hammock is, that's brilliant," he amended. "All set, Peri?"

"Yeah," she said, leaning her head against his back.

"Well then. Let's get moving."

Again, he picked Elsa up and began flying.

"I wish I could fly," she grumbled. "This would make it so much easier on all of us. But no, I'm useless at that."

"Yeah, but you can create life out of snow. Nobody else can do that."

"Honestly, I find it all a bit freaky," Elsa confessed. "I mean, where did I get _that_ power from?"

"I don't know. Maybe the Man in the Moon?"

"Is he your answer to everything?"

"That pretty much sums up my life. Do you have any better theories?"

"I've just come to accept that I'll never know," Elsa said.

They flew on in silence.

"How's Peri?" Jack asked after awhile. "She's been very quiet."

Elsa leaned over his shoulder to check. "Still there. She's sleeping."

"I bet she had a pretty nasty experience back there. Whatever Pitch and Syndrome did to take her magic away, I bet it wasn't nice. We'll stay at the Warren tonight to let her rest."

After that, Elsa lost track of time and sunk into a stupor, half awake and half asleep. She barely even noticed flying through the green tunnels up into the Warren until Jack set her down. Suddenly the world started spinning, and her feet felt weak. Unable to support her own wake, she collapsed back into Jack's arms.

"Elsa! What's wrong?" she heard him say.

She tried to answer but her head rolled back and the world started to dim.

"Bunny! Bunny help!" Jack called frantically, his voice fading as the world went out.


	17. Chapter 16: Peri

Peri was awakened by Jack's cries for help. Readjusting herself in the hammock, she was startled by the appearance of a seven-foot hare standing above her and Jack.

"Crikey, wha'd do this time?"

Jack looked down at Elsa. From her position, she could see the pained expression in his face, but the rabbit couldn't. He didn't want to let on how much the comment hurt.

"How should I know!" he snapped. "She just collapsed!"

The rabbit took Elsa's limp form in his strong arms and hopped off down the tunnel, Jack flying after. A second later, they emerged in a beautiful green cove filled with flowers and huge rocks shaped like eggs, some with legs and faces. Fragile, little white eggs with legs and arms but no faces played in the garden. Gently, the rabbit lay Elsa down on a bed of moss and turned to face Jack again.

"What's that you're wearing? A papoose?"

"Ice hammock," Jack said through gritted teeth. "Pitch and Syndrome took away all of Peri's pixie dust. But we don't know what happened to Elsa, Bunny."

"Can you put me down first?" Peri asked. "I feel a little better now."

"Oh, yeah."

Jack waved his hand and the frost around Peri dissolved. She hopped lightly to the ground and ran over to Elsa.

"I think she just fainted," she said calmly.

"When was the last time she ate?" Bunny asked.

Jack tried to remember. "Um...we had some snacks on the plane flying into the island to rescue Peri, but she was too nervous to eat. Before that was..."

"Kansas, when I was captured," Peri said. "We went there from Jamie's house, and we were at the North Pole before that."

"Right. You were making fairy food that afternoon and we couldn't find Elsa. Frozone went out to her castle and when I heard about the kidnapping I brought some fairy food for her to try."

"But did she get a chance to eat it?" Peri asked.

"I didn't see."

"Hang on a minute," Bunny interrupted. "How long ago was this?"

"It's hard to say," Jack said. "We've been traveling across time zones, and time isn't my speciality."

"It was at least 12 hours," Peri said. "But she was at her palace for a long time before that."

"She didn't eat for twelve hours?" Bunny yelled. "I expect the same thing goes for sleep?"

"Well, don't expect me to keep track! I'm just a spirit, I don't need food to survive, and Peri's probably the same way."

"I could do with some now, though," Peri said.

Bunny groaned in frustration and hopped over to a stationary egg-shaped rock.

"Give us a break," Jack said. "We were busy saving the earth."

"You're just lucky eggs and boomerangs aren't my only hobbies," Bunny said, bringing out a bunch of plants and some non-magic eggs. "I'll bring her round in a few minutes. But I don't care what the villains are doing, she's human and you are staying here for the night."

Jack nodded curtly and flew up to a ledge in the mossy cliffs. Peri leaned against the rock and watched Bunny mix up a soup and begin feeding it to Elsa with a little wooden spoon. Just breathing in the fumes from the stew made her feel reenergized.

"I don't believe we've been introduced," Bunny said after awhile.

"I'm Periwinkle, but you can call me Peri. The Moon brought me and Elsa forward in time to help fight Pitch and Frozone."

"Forward in time? That is impressive. My name's E. Aster Bunnymund, I'm the Easter Bunny. You can call me Bunny."

"Ok."

"So, they took your magic? How?"

"Syndrome, that's this science guy, had these machines and put things into my skin. It hurt, it drained everything out of me. I've never felt so helpless and vulnerable."

"And how do you feel now?"

"Better. I got some sleep flying over here, and the soup smells really good."

"Have a spoon," he said, tossing her another wooden spoon. "It's mostly the effect of the Warren. This place is full of magic. It's not replacing your magic, exactly, but it's helping you survive. Although, honestly, I don't know how much longer you'll last."

"Once I get to the North Pole I'll be fine. I have some more pixie dust there."

"Good. My tunnels will take you straight there in the morning, as soon as Elsa is strong enough. In the meantime," he said, looking up at the cliffs. "I think you should talk to Jack."

"Do you two not get along?"

"Not in the past, but I thought, well, I had hoped all that was behind us. Something's bothering him and its more than just Elsa collapsing."

"Why do I have to talk to him? I mean, what makes you think he'll talk to me?"

"I dunno. You just have a calming presence about you."

Peri remembered what Elsa had said about the boys tension when she was absent. "I have been told that before...I guess it's worth a shot."

Unable to fly, she began to climb up the cliff face, which wasn't that steep and had a lot of footholds. After a few minutes of struggling, a snow ladder unrolled from the top to meet her halfway and gratefully, she took it.

"Snow ladder. Nice," she said, sitting next to Jack. "Bunny says that Elsa will be alright now, but she'll probably sleep for a long time." He didn't reply. "Come on, Jack, don't beat yourself up about it. Elsa is the kind of person who pushes herself too hard. It probably would have happened anyway."

"It's not that," he admitted.

"What? Don't tell me you like her?"

"What? No!" He shoved her playfully. "We're just friends. Besides, even if I did she's going to return to her own time and it would never work."

"How do you know? We don't even know how we got here in the first place, we may be stuck here forever."

"Yeah, but we don't know that. Even if you were from the same time, I'm immortal, she's not. Plus, we're in the middle of a war. So even if I DID have feelings for her, I'd have to put them aside for the moment."

"You know," Peri said with a smirk. "You really seem to have thought this through. I suppose you skipped the first thing on your list, which is to convince yourself not to fall in love with her?"

"The point is NOT about Elsa," Jack insisted. "It just feels like everything is pointless."

Peri suddenly turned serious. "In what way?"

Jack sighed. "Everything in my life. For 300 years, I didn't have a purpose. I didn't know why I was a spirit and could make snow. Nobody could see me. Then the Moon picked me to become a Guardian to defeat Pitch. For the first time, my life made sense. And then we learn that less than a week later Pitch has already come back! Same thing with Syndrome, even though I wasn't part of that. Even the rescue mission seems pointless. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we got you back, but we lost Frozone. Gained one, lost one. It's like we just swapped prisoners."

"But we gained knowledge, so we'll be better prepared next time. For example, I learned that they've been working together to cheat death and make everyone thing they had died. If we take them on at the same time we might be able to put them down for good. Maybe Pitch coming back was phase 2 of the Moon's plan?"

Jack smiled a little. "Maybe you're right. But we still need a good plan, and right now we don't have any ideas."

"Leave it for morning," Peri said, yawning. "We may not need sleep to survive but we can't keep running forever."

Jack tapped his staff against the rock and two snow slides appeared. Peri grinned.

"That's more like Jack."

"Last one to the bottom's a rotten egg!" he yelled.

"Oi!" Bunny yelled. "I heard that! And no snow in the Warren!"

Laughing, Jack leaped down the slide. He didn't care.

* * *

Peri was confused. One minute, she had been falling asleep in the Warren and the next she was sitting in a natural sinkhole, watching a trial. To her alarm, it was one of the Scout Fairies' trials, and Tinkerbell was their victim. Unable to move or speak, she watched helplessly as her sister was interrogated, although she couldn't hear exactly what was being said…until the end.

"I herby sentence Tinkerbell, a tinker fairy, to banishment on the mainland," Nyx, one of the Scouts, said.

_No!_ Peri tried to yell. _You can't do that! _But somehow her voice wouldn't work._ They must be using magic to keep silent,_ she realized.

Just as a strong water fairy tried to take her away, Zarina flew in.

"Catch!" she yelled, dropping a bag down at Tink.

But she had misjudged the positioning, and the bag landed on the ground and exploded in purple pixie dust. The dust landed on a wagon full of lost things, and to Peri's horror, they began to fly on their own and whiz about the dell in astonishing speeds. Chaos reigned as the screaming onlookers tried to flee, she herself ducked as a particularly sharp object zoomed past her head.

"Thanks a lot!" Tink yelled as she was dragged away.

Zarina swopped in lower and tried again, but Tink's captor batted it away. This time, blue pixie dust poured out into a nearby stream, which promptly swelled to three times it's normal size and strength. Peri leaped into the air and flew above the scene, dodging the wild lost things. Unfortunately, none of the other fairies were able to react in time, and they were swallowed by the river, and unable to fly away.

"No…TINK!" Peri yelled.

She closed her eyes against the tragedy, and felt someone shaking her shoulders. When she opened her eyes, she was looking into the face of Elsa, and she was back in the Warren. Peri looked around wildly.

"Hey, calm down," Elsa said softly. "It's alright, it was just a bad dream."

"No, I was back in Pixie Hollow…Tink's in trouble, I have to…"

"Is everything alright?" Bunny asked, running in from one of the tunnels with Jack.

"She just had a nightmare," Elsa explained.

"What's a nightmare?" Peri asked breathlessly.

Elsa looked at her strangely. "You don't know?"

"Spirits and magical beings like us don't have dreams," Jack explained. "I only know what they are because I know Sandy."

"Nightmare, capital N," Bunny clarified. "But how? The Warren is supposed to be protected against Pitch's attacks."

"His old ones," Jack said. "But now he's working with Syndrome. His technology has advanced Pitch's magic beyond anything we've seen before."

"Never mind Pitch, I have to find a way to help Tink!"

She tried to get up but Elsa forced her back down.

"Listen," she said firmly. "A dream isn't real. It's like…imagination when you're sleeping. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. But it's just pretend."

"But it _felt_ real," Peri insisted.

"They always do."

"Do you dream?"

"I have nightmares all the time," Elsa confessed. "But then I wake up and I try to remember, and the details start fading away and it doesn't make sense. And then I realize how impossible it was because I haven't even seen Anna in weeks so how could I have hurt…" she stopped and bit her lip.

"Tell us what happened," Jack suggested. "Maybe that will help."

"Well," Peri began uncertainly. "I was back in Pixie Hollow and Tink had been caught by the Scout Fairies. They arrested her and banished her to the mainland…I couldn't say anything. Then Zarina was there and threw pixie dust to try and help her escape but it went wrong. The purple dust hit the lost things and made them fly on their own…that was weird. And then the blue pixie dust made the river flood…hang on that doesn't make sense."

"See?" Elsa said encouragingly. "You couldn't make yourself speak and the pixie dust didn't act like normal. And how did you get there in the first place?"

"I…I don't know."

"Hang on," Jack interrupted. "You said blue and purple pixie dust?"

"Yeah. There are different colors that can give you the powers of another kind of fairy. The cyan pixie dust makes you act like a water fairy, and white makes you like an ice fairy, like me."

"What kind does Pitch have?" he asked urgently.

"White," Peri said.

"So he could use our own powers against us?"

"Technically. But he doesn't know how to use it. It's not just the dust, it takes skill. You may be able to think like a tinker, but your ideas wouldn't be the same. Once, Tink and her friends got their powers switched around and it was a mess. It took them a day or two before they figured it out."

"Is that the only kind you have up at the Pole?"

"No, Tink gave me some purple, which makes you fly fast, and pink, which gives you power over plants. And gold, which is the basic kind that lets you fly."

"Do Pitch and Syndrome know these things?" Jack asked, his voice rising in excitement.

"No, I didn't tell them the specifics."

Jack let out a whoop and flew into the sky, turning somersaults and laughing.

"Um, Jack?" Elsa called, looking suspicious.

"You, Periwinkle, are a genius!" Jack said, flying back down to them.

"I am? What for?"

"For bringing pixie dust with you! This whole time I thought we were at a disadvantage, but now the tables have turned. We can use pixie dust as our secret weapon."

"Yes!" Peri cried, jumping up. "We can use purple so we fly even faster and they won't see us coming!"

"Hey, Elsa, guess what?" Jack said. "You're going to fly."

"Wait, what?"


	18. Chapter 17: The Just-Ice League

**Author's Note: so...I've kind of neglected this story. I did have some time, but I spent most of it working on "Alons-y!" instead. Mostly because I had writers block. I hate battle scenes, and I struggle to write them. But since I had to do one in "Alons-y!" earlier today, I decided I might as well struggle through this one and get the story moving again. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Are you ready?" Peri asked excitedly.

Eyes closed, Elsa nodded nervously. Peri flew above her and sprinkled some gold fairy dust over her friend. Nothing happened.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Peri said. "You have to think happy thoughts, like a memory or something!"

"I don't have any happy memories. I spent most of my life locked away."

"You must have SOMETHING!" Peri said, exasperated.

Elsa closed her eyes again and thought to before she hid her powers.

Anna danced in the snow._ This is amazing!_ She yelled as they skated around the ballroom. _Again, again!_

_You look beautiful. _

_You look beautifuller...I mean, not fuller, just more beautiful. _

_Thank you. So, this is what a party looks like. _

_It's warmer than I thought. _

_And what is that amazing smell?_

_Chocolate!_ Both girls said at once. Then they laughed in unison, the same shy, nervous giggle.

_I wish it could be like this all the time. _

_Me too. _And she had meant it.

Elsa felt her body rising in the air and she opened her eyes in panic, her arms flailing.

"Aaah! Peri, help me!"

Laughing, Peri shook her head. "You won't learn that way."

"How do you steer?!" she yelled, unintentionally rolling onto her back.

"Wave your arms like you're swimming," Jack said, joining them.

"I've never been swimming!"

"Really?"

"It was never a good climate..." Elsa gasped, somehow righting herself.

Suddenly, she leaned forward and waved her arms. She thought the motion might help, but instead, it propelled her forward and caused her to flip into a snowbank. If it hadn't been dark out, the North Pole would have looked pretty much the same: snow in all directions. But because of the time of year, it was already dark, and the northern lights flared across the dark sky. Earlier, North had explained it was a signal to the other Guardians and spirits, alerting them of the battle ahead.

Jack was trying to hide a laugh. Determined, Elsa flipped right-side up and jumped into the air, shooting to the lights like a rocket. It was quite beautiful among the stars, but she had gone higher than she had intended. Jack and Peri flew after her and grabbed her hands, bringing her closer to the ground.

"Stay calm, you'll get the hang of it," Peri promised.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Elsa gasped, wide eyed, as they turned her so that she was parallel to the ground.

"Helping you," Jack said. "Lean where you want to go, it's as simple as that."

"How do you stop?!" she cried as they raced forward.

"Lean back!" Jack yelled.

Grimacing, Elsa leaned back, and they jerked to a halt. Gradually, she opened her eyes and looked around.

"Ok...if they're chasing me, how will I go faster?"

"Just think," Peri advised. "Thinking and leaning are really all there is to it. Oh, and believing."

Gently, she and Jack let go of Elsa's arms.

"Don't leave!" she cried.

"We're right here," Peri promised, keeping her arms just below Elsa.

Tentatively, Elsa began testing her new power, and gradually grew more comfortable with it.

"Isn't this fun?!" Jack asked enthusiastically.

Elsa glanced sideways at him. "Yeah...once you get used to it," she added, managing a little smile.

"Are you used to it?" Peri asked.

"Mostly," Elsa admitted.

"Good," Jack said. "Then let's go."

"Now?!" Elsa cried in alarm, backpedaling. "But I only just started! And we don't have a plan!"

"Sure we do," Jack said casually. "Before I came out here, I sent North and some other Guardians to draw away the soldiers from Syndrome's laid. We should be clear to go in, now."

"But what's the plan?" she asked as he reached into his hoodie for a snow globe.

"Kill Pitch and Syndrome and rescue the kids. Do we need a step by step?"

"Wait!" Elsa yelled as he threw the portal in front of their flight path.

There was a slight twist then a pop, and she found herself in the tunnel they had entered to rescue Peri. Slightly dizzy, she jumped into the air and flew unsteadily after Jack.

"Who said we had to kill anybody?" she whispered.

"Ok, fine," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "We'll capture them and give them to someone ELSE to kill. Peri, where's that purple dust?"

"Here," she said, handing him a small leather pouch.

Elsa still wasn't satisfied. "But we have to do this NOW? It's a little sudden, don't you think?"

"That's the idea," Jack said.

"This isn't a good idea," she said, stopping. "What if I hurt one of the kids?"

Jack finally turned and looked at her. "As long as you're not afraid, you don't give Pitch any power, and you have control over your own. Just keep calm and keep believing like you always do and you'll be fine."

But Elsa shook her head wildly. "I've never been calm, and I've never believed in myself."

"Well..." Peri said after a moment. "We believe in you."

Slowly, Elsa took a deep breath. If her best friends believed in her, then so could she.

"Okay. Let's go."

* * *

As soon as Jack sprinkled the pixie dust on himself, it was as if every nerve was on fire. He had never, in all his years as a spirit, been filled with this much energy. Every sense was heightened and he could not stand still and could barely control his flight.. It was probably this state that ruined the surprise attack. Not all the guards had followed North's diversion. Furthermore, those who had stayed had apparently anticipated the attack, because they were waiting for them when they emerged from the tunnel. A large blast shook the room and Jack only barely noticed; he began flying in circles and being his usually annoying, distracting self times 15.

"THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!" he yelled as he froze twenty guards in five seconds.

He shoved them all down the tunnel and closed the door before anyone else realized what was happening. The remaining guards backed down the hallway, firing their guns at them. But the bullets seemed to be going in slow motion and he dodged them easily, even carelessly. He flew right up to them and froze their guns one after another. They panicked and fled down the hall.

"WHOO HOO! IT WORKED!"

"JACK!" Elsa yelled, struggling to keep up with him. "Slow down!"

"I CAN'T!" Jack yelled cheerfully.

He flew back and grabbed her hand, pulling her along with him and nearly ripping her arm out of her socket in the process. Elsa screamed and unintentionally released a wave of ice that covered everything and everyone within a 50 yard radius.

"COOL!" Jack exclaimed, letting go of Elsa and doing a triple back flip in the air in 5 seconds. "LET'S GO FIND SOME MORE BAD GUYS!"

Elsa looked very alarmed, and he spun around trying to find the source. Roughly, she grabbed him and pulled him to the ground, slapping his face.

"Hey!" she snapped. "Get it together and calm down."

"Can't too hyper this stuff is amazing!" His brain was racing a thousand miles an hour. "Speaking of which, where's Peri I hope she's ok. Also where's Pitch? Can we kill him now? We have to find him and take him down, come on!"

He grabbed Elsa's hand and pulled her along the corridors. In under a minute they had come to a wide, open intersection of the subway system, where Pitch and Syndrome were waiting for them.

"I'll distract them, you go in and take 'em out!" he yelled encouragingly as he began to spin around the room at 200 miles an hour.

"WHAT?!" Elsa yelled, still processing exactly where they were and why black sand was racing to envelope her.

* * *

With the first blast, Peri had been thrown back down into the secret entrance. Before she could recover, nearly two dozen frozen bodies were shoved after her and the door iced shut.

_Jack. I am never giving him pixie dust again. _She moaned. _But maybe this is a good thing…_

She flew down and found the cavern where the children were being kept. Here, she paused and took stock of the situation.

_We need to free them as soon as possible in case something goes wrong and something explodes or collapses or something…but if I free them now, they could alert Syndrome and then they would get hurt. _

Sighing, she moved on to the adults. When they saw her the prisoners yelled and pleaded for her attention, but she did not have time. None of them were fighting material or superheroes. Frozone wasn't there either, and that's who they really needed right now. Peri cast one last apologetic glance at the desperate people, then flew out the small door. Yesterday, she had noticed out of the corner of her eye, but knew that it would only take her deeper into the lair, not out the way she wanted. If these were the dungeons, and they were grouped into different sections, then the containment units had to be around here somewhere. And that, she was sure, was where Pitch was now keeping Frozone.

On the other side of the door was a long corridor that matched the rest of the sleek business side of the lair. But she recognized it immediately, and congratulated herself on her instincts. She went and opened the first door, but that cell was empty. In the next there was a girl only a little bigger than herself, with long black hair and a red super suit on. Peri immediately ran to the desk.

"Press the red button!" the girl said.

Peri did so, and the girl fell to the ground with a sigh of relief.

"Thanks. I'm Violet."

"Peri."

"Thanks, Peri. I would have gotten out myself like I did last time, but he's upgraded them. Have you seen my brother?"

"No, you're the first one that I've freed. I'm looking for a man named Frozone…"

"Frozone's here? Great! That'll help until mom and dad arrive. Come on, I'll help you look."

The next cell held a tall skinny man with a bald head and a sharp, pointy nose. He looked up at them angrily, then realized they were just two young girls.

"Hello," Peri said as Violet released him. "We've come to rescue you."

"Good, thank you!" he said in a thick accent, shaking as he struggled to regain feeling in his spindly legs. "You haven't seen my girls, have you? Margo, Edith, and Agnes…also my wife Lucy?"

"You're Margo's dad?" Peri exclaimed. "She's here, too. I don't know what your other kids look like, but I saw Margo and hundreds of other children. We just haven't figured out how to rescue her yet."

"Where is she?" he asked her urgently.

"Turn left out of the hall and through the small door. The kids are in the second room. But don't touch the blue light, it will shock them."

"Don't touch the blue light, got it," Gru said, stumbling from the room. "Thank you!"

* * *

Frozone waited in the dark prison cell, surrounded by nothing but silence. He had lost all track of time and had slipped into unconsciousness several times. Hopelessly, he wondered how the others were doing. For all he knew, they had been captured, too, and were nearby. A part of him wanted to believe that they had managed to escape and were coming back with reinforcements, but it was highly unlikely.

Suddenly explosions rocked the building, shaking Frozone out of his stupor. The loud booms and sharp cracks continued, encouraging him to pull at his bonds, though to no avail. Nearby, he thought he could make out the sound of sliding doors and loud cries of joy and anger all at once.

_Someone must be rescuing the other prisoners!_ he thought. "In here! Please, I'm in here! Somebody get me out of here!"

A moment later his door slid open, and Peri's slender frame appeared silhouetted against the sharp light. Frozone winced but grinned at her.

"Frozone!" she cried, flying down to the desk and pressing the release button.

"Peri! You came back!"

"Ohana!" she said enthusiastically, helping to his feet. "Nobody gets left behind."

"Where are the others? What's going on?" he asked.

"North was supposed to draw all the guards away, but some of them stayed. Jack and Elsa are fighting them while I went to free people. I found Margo's dad," she added, pointing as Gru ran by screaming war cries and swinging an axe. "He was in the containment center, too."

"Is that…Violet! Dash! What are you doing here?"

"We were kidnapped, too," Violet explained joining him in the room. "Only a few hours ago. It's a good thing we were wearing our suits, so Mom can track us."

"They should be here soon," Dash added. "Hey, Frozone, can we help fight?"

"Absolutely not," Frozone said. "You barely survived the last one. Peri, where is the bulk of the fighting?"

"The floor above us," Peri said as the ceiling shook.

"Tell you what," he said, addressing his young friends. "Somewhere around here Syndrome is keeping a lot of other kids. Maybe you can see if you can find them and…"

"It's a huge room on the other side of the lava wall," Peri interrupted. "But I looked at North's map and you can actually access it if you go down this hallway take the third left and then the second right."

"On it!" Dash yelled dashing off.

"By the way, we found the kids," Peri said casually.

"Oh…good. Which way to the battle?"

Peri waved her hand and took him a flight of steps. The room was filled with black nightmare sand, stray bits of pixie dust, actual dust from the collapsing building, and shards of ice. Pitch and Syndrome stood in the middle of the chaos, firing weapons seemingly randomly into the gloom. A blur of blue and purple sped by them, so close it nearly knocked Frozone back into the stairwell.

"That's Jack!" Peri yelled. "He's got purple pixie dust."

"The what now?"

But Peri had already sprinkled some on herself and had joined him. For a brief moment, he saw Elsa fly across the room and duck into a hallway. Hurriedly, Frozone joined her, creating an ice barricade so they could see their opponents but remain shielded.

"Frozone!" Elsa cried, relieved.

"It's good to be back!" Frozone yelled shooting an ice dagger at Syndrome, who blasted it with his gun. "How's it going so far?"

"I'm still alive!" Elsa said encouragingly. "But other than that not so good."

"Where did you learn to fly?" he asked as she began floating a few inches above the ground.

"Peri!" she yelled angrily as she forced herself back down. "She gave me some pixie dust but it's not really helping."

"Just focus on the moment and take those guys out," Frozone said.

"But I've never purposefully tried to kill or seriously maim or injure someone!"

"Think snowball fight!" he advised.

Elsa's eyes widened and she promptly threw herself back into the fight. With the battle now four to two, Pitch and Syndrome were backed into a corner, overwhelmed. Frozone was about to charge in when a powerful blast of air blew through the room, knocking everyone off guard and Jack and Peri from the sky. Wincing, he turned and saw Mirage with her hand held out in defiance, no emotion in her cold eyes.


	19. Chapter 18: Mirage

Frozone was the only one who reacted. With Elsa shocked by Mirage's sudden appearance and Jack and Peri on the ground, stunned from the sudden blast, Mirage had just enough time to freeze their hands together and their feet to the ground. She dodged as Frozone raced by her, moving so fast she couldn't catch him.

"Elsa, Peri! Snap out of it!" he yelled. "Try to break free!"

"Hey this ice is cool," Jack said excitedly, peering down at it. He licked it, then shook his head frantically. "Ok guys, don't lick the ice it doesn't taste good!"

Frozone slapped him as he went by. "Come on, Jack, wake up!"

"Oh I'm awake I've never felt more awake in my life. I haven't felt so alive since I was alive."

"Then get out!" Elsa yelled, managing to break free. Peri was still struggling.

Now it was three on three, with Frozone fighting off Mirage, Syndrome going after Elsa, and Pitch bearing down on Peri. Jack strains upwards, pulling at the ice but not using his power against it. He started laughing maniacally.

"FEEL THE POWER!" he yelled, exploding the ice onto everyone, including his allies. Then he flew and rammed into Pitch, who looked very taken aback.

"Jack, look out!" Peri warned.

Jack looked up and deftly caught a gun that Elsa had knocked from Syndrome's hands. He promptly turned it on Pitch, who again was taken completely by surprise and knocked backwards.

"Elsa, he's got another one," Peri yelled, trying to help.

By that time Pitch had recovered and sent out a tendril of nightmare sand. It coiled around her legs and dragged her backwards. Frozone immediately skated over to help but Jack, delirious as he was, could see that Elsa was in trouble. Syndrome did have another gun, plus an array of dangerous weapons that fired nearly faster than Elsa could counter. Before Syndrome had blinked, Jack had stolen his gun.

"Cool, now I have two guns!"

He pointed them directly at Syndrome, and suddenly there was no mirth in his eyes. Unable to face both Jack and Elsa, he froze them in his ray.

"Get Frozone, you fool!" Pitch yelled, frantically battling his attacks.

"I only have two rays," Syndrome said. "If you had worn the spares like I asked this would never had happened!"

"If you had followed my plan..." He ducked another blast of ice. "Just done release Jack!"

"Fine," Syndrome sighed. He released Elsa and managed to catch both Frozone and Peri. "Mirage! Take down Elsa. Pitch, give me a hand."

"With what?"

"Well, I can't program the ray to siphon their powers without my hands, now can I?" Syndrome said irritably.

Frozone watched as Elsa held back Mirage's ice. She looked more like a robot now than she ever had been, and Elsa knew it. Cautiously, she slowed her own ice and weakened the fight.

"Mirage, listen to me! You don't have to do this. You can live another life!"

"Why would I? This is my life. It's my home and Syndrome is my family."

"No, he's not! That's just what he wants you to think. You're nothing but a robot forced to do whatever he needs you to do."

"That's not true!"

"Yes it is. Only a few days ago Frozone said you realized that Syndrome was evil and you joined the good side. But then he reprogrammed you or something. He's manipulating you, can't you see that?"

"Wait, what?" Syndrome said, finally hearing the conversation. "That is nothing but a blatant lie!"

Frozone held his breath, hoping against hope that Syndrome would forget about them and accidentally drop the ray connection. The pixie dust was being stripped from both Peri and Jack. On a good note, Jack would revert back to his old self again, though sometimes it wasn't much different. But if the process carried on for too long, then both fliers would be so weakened that they wouldn't be able to help.

"Come on now, sweetheart," Syndrome continued. "Who are you going to believe? The enemy we're fighting, or me?"

"The enemy, of course," Pitch said. "Because it's true. I watched him reprogram you. He created everything about you, your looks, personality, thoughts, family, memories, everything. You are nothing without him. You're just what your name says you are: a mirage. You're not really there."

"TRAITOR!" Syndrome yelled, throwing down his arms in a rage and releasing his prisoners.

Mirage, shocked by the revelation, stood to the side as the battle burst back into life. Frozone fought Syndrome, Jack fought Pitch, Pitch and Syndrome fought each other if they had time. Elsa, after making sure Peri was alright, threw in a punch wherever she could and kept an eye on Mirage in case she decided to stay loyal to her maker anyway. But as soon as she looked away, Mirage vanished.

Jack, Elsa, and Frozone managed to form a protective ring around Peri as she tried to regain her strength. It was the second time in as many days that her pixie dust had been taken from her, and even though she had some left this time, it had left her severely weakened. Luckily, Jack Frost was back in the game, his head cleared from the purple dust.

"Frozone, this isn't working," he yelled.

"I know, I know. Everyone, fall back!"

He built an incredibly thick wall of ice blocking the tunnel while Elsa picked up Peri and flew. Frozone backed away slowly but never stopped the flow of ice. Already he could feel it weakening as the villains hammered away from the other side. Jack paused before following the girls.

"Do we have a plan?"

"No," Frozone grunted. "Any ideas smart guy?"

"Ambush avalanche? Elsa and I could take them further down the tunnel."

"Good a plan as any. But hurry, I can't hold them off much longer."

Jack raced off after Elsa. Frozone poured his strength into the wall, even managing to mend it from the other side, albeit briefly. He wondered how much longer he could fight them on his own, or even if they could be defeated at all. On their own they were each powerful enough. Put them together and it was an unstoppable nightmare.

_But we have to defeat them_, he thought. _For the kids._

Another blast shook the ice and the surrounding tunnel. Frozone gave every last ounce of ice he had. He had every intention to run, but as he collapsed realized that he had no more energy.

_I'm done for._

Suddenly, he heard a piercing whistle, and galloping hooves thundering on the cold metal floor. Looking up, he saw Snowflake, Elsa's unicorn, hurrying towards him. Without stopping to think how she might have gotten here in the first place, he swiftly mounted and she carried him away. A hundred yards down the corridor, Elsa and Jack had built large mounds of snow and ice, blocking the side tunnels. Each of them floated above their mountain, ready to send it on top of Pitch and Syndrome at a moment's notice. Peri stood on the other side of the intersection, out of harms way. Frozone dismounted and stood next to her, watching to the inevitable appearance of their enemies. There was a sharp noise like breaking glass and yelled orders.

"More guards," Jack said cheerfully.

"Then we'll take them down, too!" Elsa said. "Get ready."

"On my signal," Frozone said, raising his hand. He could see the shadows moving on the opposite wall. "One..." A dozen or more guards appeared, running full speed and holding machine guns. Peri quickly formed an ice shield to deflect the bullets. "Two..." The first couple guards knelt in the cross-section without noticing the mountain and cocked their guns. Syndrome and Pitch had not yet appeared, but there was no time. "NOW!" Frozone yelled as the guns began to fire.

In harmony, the mountains moved and toppled over the soldiers, burying all of them under two tons of snow. Jack let out a celebratory whoop before he was once again knocked from the sky. Syndrome had crept up from behind.

"Jack!" Elsa yelled, flying over to him.

Syndrome pointed a finger and froze her on the spot. Frozone made a dash at him, but Peri screamed. Pitch had snuck up behind them and captured. Jack, Frozone figured, would be able to take care of himself. He went after Peri.

But it wasn't just Jack that had been knocked out of place, the staff had gone too. Powerless, Elsa watched as Syndrome pointed a gun at Jack. The big merely grinned.

"You know that thing doesn't do anything to me, right? Shoot all you want but I'm already dead."

Syndrome gave a dry laugh. "You know who I'm working with, riiight?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder at Pitch fighting Frozone. Jack's eyes widened as he noticed thin tendrils of nightmare sand curling from the gun. He remembered what happened to Sandy only a few weeks ago. Syndrome laughed cruelly and cocked the gun, aiming straight for the heart. Jack closed his eyes and braced himself, wondering if he'd ever come back, and if so, when?

But the impact never came. There was a whirring noise as the weapon powered down and Elsa dropped to the floor. When Jack brought himself to open his eyes Syndrome was banging the weapon on his hand, looking shocked that such a thing could even happen. He had completely forgotten about Elsa, who did a very impressive kick that knocked him down. She grabbed the staff and tossed it over to Jack. Quickly, he scrambled up to face Syndrome, who was fuming.

"You little wretch! What did you do?!"

"Wasn't me," Jack said shrugging innocently.

Suddenly Syndrome gasped in pain and a hand pushed through his chest. Mirage stood behind him.

"You know, it's a really bad idea to hook up all the weapons to the same computer. It's an even worse idea to have your robot "sweetheart" trained to operate them."

"What are you doing?" Syndrome groaned, turning his head slightly to look at her.

"Stopping you for good this time," she said.

Slowly, she withdrew her hand back inside his body. Jack and Elsa could still see as ice shot out of her hand, and she froze him from the inside.

"Pitch…" he wheezed. "Help…me…!"

But Pitch was now being chased by Gru, Violet, Dash, and Frozone. Syndrome wasn't going to get help any time soon. And based on Pitch's earlier revelation that Mirage really was a robot and had been reprogrammed, he probably wasn't going to help anyway. A moment later, Mirage pulled her hands from his frozen body and spat over him.

"Get the kids and get out of here," she said urgently. "Quickly."

"What's going to happen?" Elsa asked suspiciously. "What are you going to do?"

"Syndrome was always afraid for his life after his near-death plane experience. He distrusted Pitch so much that he secretly made a weapon that can trap him forever. I'm going to get that and go after him. They acted confident that they would win, but Syndrome wanted to be sure he would have the last laugh. This place will explode in half an hour, probably less time than that."

"Can't you stop it?" Jack asked in alarm.

"Even I don't know the code to stop the volcano's eruption. And if I did it's probably too late to stop it. But I do know how to free the children." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a remote. "Press this button and the doors to all the cages will open. This one controls the parents. Now hurry, we don't have much time!"

She took off down one corridor, while Jack and Elsa went back the way they came.

"Frozone!" Jack yelled. "Hold off Pitch while we free the kids!"

Frozone nodded briefly and continued the battle. Pitch was already starting to look weak and desperate. Elsa grabbed hold of Peri and Gru and began pulling them along. As they went, Peri managed to sprinkle pixie dust on all of them, turning the running into flying. Jack quickly explained the situation. They reached the cavern a few minutes later, having encountered no further resistance. All of the guards were elsewhere. Elsa released the parents, waving them on to the next room.

"Everyone! The kids are in here! We have to free them and get out of here quickly, before this volcano explodes!"

As if to confirm her words, a crack appeared in the floor, releasing a vent of steam and a glimpse of the lava below. The frightened and confused parents followed Elsa's orders and ran into the next room. The doors to the kids' chambers were opened, and the room was soon filled with yells and cries of joy mixed with terror as the walls continued to deteriorate. Not all the children had parents waiting for them; many began to cry uncontrollably.

"Dad!" Margo exclaimed, jumping down into Gru's arms. "I knew you'd come and find me!"

"I'm so glad you're safe! Where are Edith and Agnes?" Gru asked.

"I found them!" Lucy yelled, carrying Agnes and dragging Edith behind her.

"Margo!" Jack yelled, interrupting the family reunion. "Have you seen Jamie or Sophie?"

"No, not since we were at their house."

"I know they're here, I just can't remember where I saw them last."

Elsa and Jack flew around the room, carefully bringing the children from the higher cages to the ground. The temperature was rising steadily, and Jack still hadn't been able to locate Jamie or Sophie.

"Can Sandy erase memories, right?" Elsa yelled to Jack. "Make it all seem like a dream?"

"We can arrange something, yeah. They've seen too much at this point, and the portals will be our best option for getting everyone out safely. We'll go to the Warren, it's the safest place and easiest for everyone to get home."

"Elsa, my wings can't take this heat much longer!" Peri called. She had collapsed on the ground again, and her fragile wings drooped.

Without even thinking, Elsa waved her hand and coated the room in a thick layer of ice and made it snow. This resulted in more terrified screaming, mainly from parents. Elsa brought out a portal and yelled "the Warren," throwing it into the middle of the crowd. Peri was first to go through, but the others were more hesitant.

"Just trust me, go!" Elsa screamed. "Go! If we stay here we'll burn!"

She began urging the kids with no parents through the door. The volcano rumbled and the whole floor shook, knocking a few children over. Now, everyone stampeded towards the portal, from both sides. Elsa hoped that Peri could control the crowds on the other side so there wasn't a huge pileup. Frozone, Violet, Dash, Mirage and Pitch—frozen in a ray similar to the one Syndrome had used—arrived shortly after. Dash was extremely helpful running around and saving people from being trampled. Frozone used his sled to help rescue more children.

"Jack! I found Jamie!" Elsa yelled.

Jack and Frozone raced over to find Jamie shivering uncontrollably in his cell. Sophie was nearby, crying but unable to reach her brother. Frozone immediately gathered them both in his arms.

"Get a portal out and take us to the hospital," he yelled to Jack. "Elsa, you're in charge of getting the rest of these people out of here. I contacted North to meet you at the Warren but you have to hurry. Mirage says we only have 10 more minutes, max."

"Who's Max?" Elsa shrieked.

"MAXIMUM!" Frozone yelled. "WE HAVE TEN MINUTES BEFORE THE VOLCANO EXPLODES!"

Jack threw the portal and he and Frozone dived into it. Elsa was left on her own with nearly a score of parents and over a hundred kids, some of whom were still in their cells. The room shook again, and this time it didn't stop. Taking a deep breath, Elsa reached into her pocket and pulled out the pinch of purple dust Peri had given her in case of emergencies. She threw it over her body and shot off like a rocket, grabbing every kid left in the cages and throwing them into a snow sleigh that she only barely remembered making. The ice around the room was almost completely evaporated now, and the heat levels were unbearable. Elsa propelled the snow sleigh into the portal before it, too, melted beneath the kids' feet. At this point, nobody needed urging, only a little help to keep up. Elsa grabbed a five-year-old little girl and a two-year-old boy. Both of them had been constantly screaming in fear.

"Hey, it's ok, I'm here to help," Elsa said as calmly as she could with her veins on fire. "What are your names?"

"I'm Lily," the little girl said.

"Noah," the boy mumbled.

"Nice to meet you, Lily and Noah. Would you like to go home now?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

They were the last ones through. The warm Australian air felt like Arendelle's winter to Elsa's overheating body. She collapsed on the ground and found herself staring into North's boots. Almost crying in relief, she looked up at him and pointed back at the portal.

"Close it, we're the last ones."

North snapped his fingers and the portal shut with a click. Then he knelt and talked quietly to the children. Elsa didn't even hear him; she was trying to cool down. When she opened her eyes again, it was just her and North.

"Was anyone hurt?" he asked quietly.

"Jamie was freezing when we found him, Jack and Frozone took him somewhere to get help, I think."

"But did _you_ hurt anyone?"

"Only the guards," Elsa said. "And only because I pretended we were having a snowball fight."

North chuckled softly and helped Elsa to her feet. "Look around, Elsa of Arendelle. Look at what you have done. There are nearly three hundred children in this glen, and two hundred parents. All of them are safe…because of you. You saved them."

Elsa's hand flew to her mouth as she sank into North's gentle giant embrace.


	20. Chapter 19: Elsa

**Author's Note: So now that the battle is over the story's winding down. Only a few more chapters left! Enjoy it while you can.**

* * *

Elsa and Peri returned to the North Pole several hours later, after helping North, Bunny, Sandy, and several other Guardians safely return the captives. Jack and Frozone met them outside. After the day they had, everyone wanted to stay outside in the cold.

"How's Jamie?" Elsa asked, hugging Jack.

"He'll be fine," Jack said. "I removed the ice, and we took him to the hospital. And we took Sophie back so Mrs. Bennett knows where Jamie is. The doctor said he'll probably go home tomorrow so that we can visit him."

"What about everyone else?" Frozone asked.

"They're fine," Elsa said.

"Elsa used the purple pixie dust," Peri interrupted. "So she could get everyone out in time. But she didn't go crazy like Jack did."

Jack laughed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah…not sure what happened back there."

"I can't believe you actually licked the ice," Elsa said, laughing.

"Did you see his face after he did?" Peri shrieked.

Even Frozone chuckled. "That was pretty funny."

"But why did it do that?" Jack asked. "It turned me into some hyperactive child."

"Which you kind of already are," Frozone joked.

"Maybe that's it," Peri said suddenly. "Maybe it just amplifies the current mood and personality of whoever is a non-fairy…or even an ordinary fairy who normally isn't a fast flier."

"It definitely made the situation feel even more urgent than it already was," Elsa said. "So I suppose that's a plausible theory."

"But what are the people all going to think?" Frozone asked. "People flying around, children gently floating in the sky, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and a magic portal. Are they going to think it's hallucinations? Drugs? Are they going to straight up believe it?"

"Sandy helped erase some memories and make it seem like a dream," Elsa said.

"And several people are going to be brought back home in a few days, North's plan, so it wouldn't be too suspicious," Peri added.

"SHIELD will find an excellent cover story," Frozone said. "They'll probably take all the credit."

"What happened to Pitch?" Peri asked. "I missed that bit."

"Mirage came down with some kind of gun and froze him in time," Frozone said. "She didn't know exactly how it worked since Syndrome kept it such a big secret, but by golly, that's going to hold him for a very long time. Syndrome may have been a madman, but he was a genius, nobody can argue with that."

"North said they're taking him to a cave somewhere secret," Elsa said. "They want to make sure he'll never get out again."

"So all in all, I think we've done a pretty good job," Jack said. "Let's have a party."

_So, this is what a party looks like._

The memory flashed across Elsa's mind, and her mood instantly deflated. Frozone noticed immediately.

"Whoa, what happened? Do you not like parties?"

"Well, I've only been to one in my life, and that was the one where everyone found out I was a monster and froze Arendelle. So…I don't exactly have good memories."

"Well, then," Jack said matter-of-factly. "We'll just have to make some good memories."

"It's not just that, though, is it?" Frozone asked.

"Home," Peri said simply, understanding.

Elsa nodded. "I want to go back. I know now that I can control my powers, and I want to make it up to Anna. But I'm a monster…"

"No, you're not," Jack said, more seriously than she had ever seen him.

"To the people I am," Elsa insisted. "They only saw the bad side of me, and I don't know what they'll do to me if they catch me."

"Just show them your good side," Frozone said. "Be yourself and you'll be fine. But don't you dare go into isolation again. Peri, you stay with her long enough to make sure she doesn't."

"I promise."

"But it may be too late…"

"Don't say that. It's never too late," Jack said.

"No, you don't understand, I can't…"

At that moment the winds whipped around them, stirring the snow up into a frenzy, so hard that they could barely see. Peri was actually lifted into the air, the gale too strong for her to fight. Elsa automatically grabbed hold of her hand as she was carried by screaming, then realized that she, too, was floating away. The winds formed a whirlpool, sucking them in like a portal. The Moon alone shone through the snow.

_It _is_ a portal_, Elsa realized. "No, not yet! I can't go back yet!"

Jack suddenly understood what was going on. He leaped into the sky after them, grabbing Elsa in a tight hug. Frozone caught his foot and dug into the snow, trying to keep them all grounded.

"Why is this happening now?" Elsa yelled.

"You've done what the Moon needed you to do?" Jack suggested. "It doesn't matter why we can't stop it now."

"But I need more time! I'm not ready yet; I don't have a plan!"

"Make it up as you go along, that's what I do!"

"We haven't even said goodbye!" Peri screamed. She moved herself downwards using Elsa's body and wrapped herself around her legs, holding on for dear life. Elsa used her free hand to grab Jack's.

"Then say it now!" he yelled urgently.

Tears formed in Elsa's eyes. "How? I don't like goodbyes."

"Say it like we're going to see each other again," Frozone said. "Who knows? We might need you again."

Elsa shook her head. "Nobody needs me," she said so quietly they barely heard her.

"Those kids needed you, don't forget that!" Frozone yelled. "Don't ever forget them, you hear me, girl?"

"Anna needs you, too," Jack reminded her. "Go to her and make things right."

As the storm pulled them farther apart, Elsa nodded. She looked down at Frozone and smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you for everything…dad."

Frozone barely managed to smile. With the last of her energy, she pulled back enough to hug Jack for one last time.

"See you later," she gasped.

A blast of air tore them apart; Jack only just managed to grab onto her arm.

"No, don't go!" he pleaded suddenly.

"I can't stop it, Jack! I _can't_."

"Don't do this to me."

"I don't want to go!"

"But no one else _understands_."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"What am I going to do?"

"Keep asking the Moon," Elsa said.

Her hand slid further up his arm until only their hands clasped.

"Don't let go," Jack pleaded.

"I can't hold on," she gasped. "It hurts!"

"Elsa, you have to let go," Frozone said. "That's the only way you'll be able to move forward with your life."

"Shut up!" Jack yelled down to him.

But Elsa nodded tearfully. "But he's right."

"No, don't…"

"You're my best friend, Jack Frost. Remember that."

"Don't you dare! Elsa, don't you dare let go!"

Elsa screamed as the winds ripped them apart. Slowly, despite Jack's best efforts, their hands slipped apart. At tremendous speeds, Elsa and Peri were sucked into the vortex.

A second later, they landed, quite dizzy, in the palace, in the exact same spot and position they had left it. There was a tinkling noise directly above them, and Elsa looked up. The chandelier was falling. Unable to scream, Elsa grabbed Peri and ran, not caring which direction. Unfortunately, she was so disoriented she fell to the ground as the chandelier shattered on top of them.

* * *

When Elsa woke, it seemed like mere moments since the portal and the chandelier. But then it registered that she was in the dungeons in Arendelle, and she realized it must have been hours.

"Are you alright?" Peri asked. She sat on the floor studying the chains that nearly swallowed her.

"My head feels like it's going to explode. Did it hurt that badly last time?"

"I don't remember," Peri sighed. "We were nearly hit by a car, and then Frozone found us. It seems like so long ago, now."

Elsa rolled over on the wooden plank she had as a bed. "Nope. This isn't happening. I fell asleep in North's workshop and dreamed the whole thing."

"It feels pretty real, though, doesn't it?"

"All my dreams feel real," Elsa said. "That's why I barely slept for ten years."

"Elsa, you have to pull yourself together. You're the only one strong enough to break these chains, and I have a feeling that Hans won't let you go on your own."

"Hans?!" Elsa said, looking over her shoulder.

She vaguely remembered that was why her castle was under attack a few weeks ago. So much had happened in so little time that it felt like months.

"Also, you've got to learn how to stop the snow. I'm not sure how much Arendelle can take."

"What?" Elsa stumbled off the board and strained at her chains, looking out of the window at her frozen kingdom. "Oh no. What have I done?"

"It was an accident," Peri reminded her. "You've changed since then, remember?"

The door to their cell opened before Elsa could reply. It was Hans.

"Queen Elsa," he said, bowing. "And Peri, as I recall. I apologize for the chains and the dungeon. The Duke of Wesselton's men were ready to kill both of you if I hadn't stepped in and offered a compromise. I was about to convince them to let Peri go free…but then we noticed the…um, pardon me…the _wings_. We weren't quite sure what to make of them…"

"Leave Peri alone," Elsa said. "Where's Anna?"

Hans looked sad. "Anna…has not returned."

Elsa looked back towards the window, trying not to panic.

"If you would just stop the winter, bring back summer. _Please_."

"Don't you see?" Elsa pleaded desperately. She was tired of nobody understanding her. "I _can't_."

"Hans, you have to make them let her go," Peri said urgently. "Otherwise, things will only get worse. The only way to fix things is to let her go."

Unsure, Hans nodded. "I will do what I can."

Peri watched him go with cold eyes. As soon as his footsteps receded into the darkness, she turned to Elsa.

"He's not going to let you go. Don't ask me how. I can just tell. You need to break these chains and get us out of here. It's the only way to save Anna."

Elsa gritted her teeth and looked down at her hands. Frost began to form on the outside of the manacles, and her hands grew cold as she worked from the inside. Ever so slowly, she felt them starting to crack.

_Why did I ever think my gloves could back my power? _she wondered_. Ok, focus. Think about everything you've done. Lancelot, Snowflake, that castle, the statue of Anna, the ambush avalanche, saving those kids, Noah, and Lily…Remember how much Jack, Frozone, and Peri believe in you. Remember how much Frozone cared, remember how much he reminded you of dad…_

Tears streamed down her face as she turned the pain into raw power. After awhile, the manacles broke, and she turned to help Peri. It took less time now that her hands were free. Footsteps pounded down the hall, and voices shouted with a sense of urgency. With a definitive snap, Elsa broke the last of the chains and turned towards the wall.

"Hurry, she's getting away!" one of the guards called.

A key rattled in the lock, and the next second Elsa had blown down the wall. Peri only had a moment to realize that it was now in ruins before she realized that Elsa was running away.

"Elsa!" she called, flying after her. "Where are you going?"

"I have to get away!" Elsa said. "I have to come up with a plan, so I don't hurt anyone."

"Did you have a plan in the volcano?"

"Enough with the volcano! I don't want to hear about it; that's not me. That was one time luck."

"No, Elsa," Peri said, flying in front of her and stopping her dead in her tracks. "That is you. Now you have to figure out what to do next."

Elsa looked around in the storm, which was nearly as ferocious as the one that had brought them back to the past only hours before. For her, it was minutes. There was so much snow she didn't even know where she was, only that it was extremely icy. Maybe somewhere on the fjord?

"Elsa!" It was Hans. Somehow he had found her again. "You can't run from this!"

Elsa didn't have the time or the energy to explain anything. A thought crossed her mind that maybe the only way to stop this storm and save Arendelle was to die. It may not be the only way she could, but it might be the only option. But this was something she could not explain in a storm to a man she barely knew while one of her best friends was watching.

"Just take care of my sister," she said simply. _In case I can't figure it out within the next few hours._

"Your sister?" Hans said. "She returned from the mountains. She said you hit her with your ice. Her skin was blue; her hair turned white. Your sister is dead…because of you!"

"No…NO!" Els collapsed on the ice.

There was so much pain and emptiness, like when her parents had died all over again. Only, this time, it was worse, because she had overcome her obstacles and become a better person. She was going to make everything right with Anna, and now that chance was gone, all those wasted years haunted her all at once. Around her, everything was still and silent; snowflakes halted in suspended animation, much like Syndrome's ray. Peri ran up to her and knelt beside her, trying in vain to comfort her. But she had no idea what to say and wished Jack was there to help. Elsa heard a sharp metal sound and ever so slightly opened her eyes. In the reflection of the ice, she saw Hans with his sword drawn, approaching her. But at this point, she just didn't care. She wouldn't even try to stop the storm. She'd let Hans do that. She didn't even realize Peri was right next to her, oblivious to their imminent death.

"Noooo!"

A blur appeared out of the corner of her eye, and a voice that sounded like Anna's…She turned and saw that it was Anna. She had blocked the sword, and Hans was lying unconscious on the ground. But Anna was frozen solid, like the ice statue she had built at the North Pole…only she was real and really dead, like Syndrome.

"ANNA!" She got up and cupped her hands around Anna's face. "No, Anna. Please no…"

There was absolutely nothing she could do, and Elsa knew it. Throwing her arms around her sister, she burst into sobs. Peri stood to the side, crying herself and thinking of Tink. She was joined a moment later by a snowman, who she assumed was another of Elsa's creations. A man and a reindeer walked up from the other side. Elsa knew none of this; she only felt Anna's cold body beneath her. She didn't even hear Olaf gasp or Sven snort excitedly. Only when the body beneath her went limp and warm did she look up and see her sister, alive.

"Anna!" She stood and hugged her sister tightly.

"Oh, Elsa," Anna said, relaxing into the hug she had so desperately wanted for years.

"You sacrificed yourself for me?"

"I love you," Anna said simply.

"An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart!" Olaf exclaimed.

"Love will thaw. Love. Of course. Love!"

Elsa raised her hands, and the ice and snow began to melt. She thought of her parents. She remembered how Frozone had cared for her, how Jack had shared her understanding of being alone, and how Peri had always believed in her. She remembered all the fun times they had, despite the danger. But most of all, she thought of Anna, and how much she loved her sister.

_Ohana means family. And family means nobody gets left behind…or forgotten._

_Never again, Anna. I promise._

The snow and ice had melted away, and the little group stood on the deck of a ship. Elsa breathed a great sigh of relief.

"I knew you could do it," Anna said smiling confidently.


	21. Chapter 20: Periwinkle

**Author's Note: I looked up the newest Tinkerbell movie, Legend of the Neverbeast, and I found out that there are actually Scout Fairies who are pretty much like the Council I created, so naturally I'm going to go with what's canon. I haven't actually seen the movie yet, so it might not be completely accurate, but for now I think it'll do.**

* * *

Peri kept her promise: she stayed in Arendelle to make sure Elsa would adjust well. As soon as they were able, all the citizens were gathered in the courtyard of the palace while Elsa made a speech, where she explained her story (leaving out the whole time travel magic issue; she merely said she learned how to control her powers while in the mountains.) and apologizing for all the pain she had caused in freezing Arendelle. Most of the people believed her, though Peri could see more than a few exchanging shifty glances. It would take time for all of them to overcome the fear and the trauma Elsa had caused. Elsa seemed to sense this as well. At the end of the speech, she invited everyone to return to the castle the next afternoon for an ice skating party and feast.

Peri slept all morning, still exhausted from the day before. She missed the first part of the party, but when she woke everything had gone to plan. Elsa had finally figured it out. Pulling out the ice coat Elsa had made her to hide her wings, Peri joined the skating below. She found her friend talking with two familiar faces: Eugene and Rapunzel. Elsa had been apologizing to them personally, and it looked like Eugene was finally warming up to her. Peri skated up the group gracefully.

"Peri!" Rapunzel said cheerfully. "I thought you had gone to your family in the mountains."

"Well, I found Elsa," she said.

"You can trust them," Elsa assured her.

Peri opened her hand and formed a snowflake. "Frost fairy," she said quietly so no one else would hear.

"Oh," Rapunzel said. "It seems like we all have interesting stories to tell."

"Hey!" Anna said, trying to keep her balance on the skates. "Why don't we all have a sleepover in my room tonight?"

"Sounds great," Elsa said with a smile.

"I'll bring cake," Eugene said.

"Not you," Rapunzel said, nudging him.

"I know, I know. I was only joking. I'll just have a private suite all to myself..."

"You might want to place guards outside his doors and windows in case he tries to make off with anything," Rapunzel teased.

"Hey, you know I gave all that up years ago."

"Bad habits are hard to break," she pointed out.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Elsa assured her.

"Um, Elsa?" Anna called, trying not to sound alarmed. "I'm slowly skating away here. Backwards."

"Going somewhere?" Kristoff asked, catching her.

"Hi," she breathed. "Sorry, I'm, uh, a bit clumsy."

"Well, maybe Peri can help you out," Elsa suggested. "Since she's been skating her whole life."

"You're going to have to learn sooner or later," Peri said, grabbing Anna's hands.

In the palace courtyard that night, the guards built a bonfire, and Elsa, Anna, Rapunzel and Peri stayed up late swapping stories. Rapunzel held a very captive audience for her tale, although it was difficult to imagine her with such lengths of blonde magical hair. Peri especially was interested in the healing powers, supposedly derived from the sun. As she and Rapunzel discussed theories, Pixie Hollow and the light fairies came up, and Peri found herself narrating her adventures. Anna loved the parallels between Tink and Peri and herself and Elsa, which in turn led to their heartbreaking life story.

"You never saw each other for how many years?" Rapunzel asked in disbelief.

"Thirteen," Elsa said gloomily.

"Well, we saw each other," Anna said. "She would come to dinner if she wasn't too busy "studying." We just never spoke to each other very much. And then when our parents died..."

"It was too much for me. The last three years I literally lived in my room."

Peri watched as the sisters recounted the events of Elsa's formation, the reveal of her powers, and their reconnection. They had become extremely close in the past two days, she noticed. It was bittersweet. On one hand, she loved seeing them like that. On the other hand, it reminded her too much of herself and Tink, and she longed to see her sister again.

"Hey," Elsa said softly, nudging her. "Lighten up and enjoy yourself. When's the next time you'll get to have a bonfire sleepover with three princesses?"

"Two," Anna said, her mouth full of sausage. "You're a queen now."

"Oh, yes. I'd forgotten."

"I know," Peri said, laughing a little. "I just miss Tink."

"You can go home tomorrow," Elsa promised. "Or, at least, start on your journey."

"In the meantime," Rapunzel said. "I am very anxious to hear about your mysterious trip to the future."

"Oh, yes!" Anna exclaimed, clapping her hands. "I want to hear that story, too! You haven't said hardly anything about it. Tell me what happened!"

"Well," Elsa said, looking over at Peri. "It started with a boy named Jack Frost, deep in the frozen tundras of Antarctica, when the Man in the Moon decided he would need some help in the near future..."

* * *

Very little sleep was had that night, as Peri was anxious to get going. Even if she had been able to sleep soundly, it was difficult when only a few hours separated the time when the four girls ceased their conversations and the sunrise. As the sun rose, so did the fairy. She gathered her belongings: a loaf of bread and some cold sausage for provisions, a small pin bearing Arendelle's Coat of Arms as a memento, and the remainder of her pixie dust supply. Quietly, she opened the door and flew silently into the halls. Elsa, Anna, and Rapunzel were already waiting for her.

"You didn't think you'd get off that easily, did you?" Elsa asked.

Peri smiled gratefully. Together, they walked down to the docks. Only a few fishermen were about town; they looked surprised to see their queen, but kindly let her alone.

"Could I come and visit you in Pixie Hollow, sometime?" Elsa asked suddenly.

Peri shook her head. "I don't think so. Queen Clarion and Lord Malori have very strict rules about the comings and goings of fairies from Neverland. Tink and I got into trouble for going into the wrong places in Pixie Hollow. I'll ask, but probably not."

"Well, you'll definitely have to come back and visit us sometime!" Anna said enthusiastically.

"You could come visit us in Corona," Rapunzel added.

"Anna, Rapunzel, remember she's very busy. Being a fairy isn't all fun and games."

"Oh," Anna said dejectedly.

"Well, I'm not leaving you forever!" Peri promised. "Since we're the only members of the Just-Ice League in this time period."

Elsa looked down at the sea thoughtfully. "We need some sort of signal. Our own sort of Northern Lights if we're ever in trouble and need help."

"You could always recreate Snowflake."

"I want you to do that anyway," Anna said eagerly.

"Preferably before I have to get back to Corona," Rapunzel hinted.

Elsa grinned. "I was planning on it."

"I wonder if Tink could help figure out a way to communicate," Peri mused. "I'll have to ask her. In the meantime..." She reached into her pouch and pulled out a mini bag full of purple pixie dust. "Keep it. Just in case."

"I will," Elsa said, clutching it to her heart fervently.

Peri bid her courteous farewells to Anna and Rapunzel, then hugged Elsa tightly.

"Don't make winter come too early, now," she warned. "That's our job."

"Okay," Elsa laughed. "And if the Scout Fairies won't let you back into Pixie Hollow...and I'm not saying I don't want them to, but you're always welcome to stay here in Arendelle."

"I'll keep that in mind. Bye, Elsa."

"Goodbye, Peri," she whispered.

Almost reluctantly, Peri handed her the silvery ice coat and took off into the bright morning sky. She looked back over the city one last time. From there, she could see the castle, where Eugene and Kristoff were messing around with Sven and Olaf. Anna and Rapunzel had already started back, leaving Elsa alone on the docks, still watching. Peri almost went back. But she knew that Tink would meet her in London; she didn't even know this place existed. So, with a final wave, Periwinkle left Arendelle.

The flight was peaceful, without much event. She flew high, just above the clouds, to avoid being seen. When the sun set, she kept flying, knowing that sleep would be impossible anyway. Her thoughts wandered restlessly, trying not to focus on her friends she was leaving behind. Towards midnight, green and blue lights flickered across the sky. Peri couldn't help thinking about North.

"I wonder how he did it," she wondered aloud, simply for the sake of hearing a voice. "Maybe the light fairies helped him. I should ask Iridessa when I get home." She kept her eyes on the borealis a moment longer. "If I get home," she added.

Neither the friends she left behind or the friends at home gave her much comfort. If unwelcome at Pixie Hollow, Peri knew she was welcome at Arendelle, but that would mean a new home. If she were allowed to return to the Winter Forest, she wouldn't be able to visit Elsa very often. In her mind, there was no ideal situation.

She reached London two days later, though it was some hours before she found the right house. Tink had tried to give her clear directions, but that had been over a week ago, and so much had happened that she had difficulty remembering. Twice she thought she had the right place, only to discover no children lived in that house, or it was only boys, no little girl. Peri was beginning to wonder if the third home was also wrong, when a young boy and girl burst into the room, giggling. She shrank back into the shadows, hidden by the partially drawn curtains.

"Tell me a story, Wendy!" the boy pleaded. "About Neverland!"

"Oh, alright, John," Wendy agreed pleasantly. "Neverland is a magical country far away from here."

"Is it truly magical?" John asked, his eyes round in wonder.

"Well, of course it is! It's Neverland! Magic happens every day. There's a lagoon full of beautiful mermaids splashing in the waterfalls, and pirate ship sail in the blue water looking for dazzling treasure."

"And the injuns run through the tall grass hunting!" John added.

"Oh, yes, and the Indians," Wendy said, nodding wisely. "There's lots of birds, and fruits, and everything is colorful and there's no rain."

Smiling softly, Peri leaned her head against the glass as a few tears slid down her face. Oh, how she missed her home!

"But how does everything live?" John asked, wrinkling his nose. "I thought plants need water to live, mother told me so."

"Yes, John, they do. Rain is how the plants in our world get their water. But do you remember that in the summer there is no rain, and mother takes water out to them? That's what happens in Neverland all the time, only our mother isn't there to take care of it."

"Then who doesn't?"

"Don't be silly, you know this part of the story. It's the fairies! They live all over the island taking care of the plants and the animals, even the humans who live there."

"Like Peter Pan?"

"Yes, like Peter Pan!"

Here, Wendy left off her explanation of Neverland and turned to the glorious adventures of their hero, Peter Pan. Peri had heard of such a boy before, and she knew that some fairies liked to stay with him for awhile and take care of him. But she had never met him in person, and even doubted his existence. Furthermore, she had no idea how these human children knew such tales.

"Psst!"

Startled, Peri looked up from the window. There, perched on the next gable of the Darling house, was Tink. Periwinkle wasn't entirely sure how she got from her relaxed position by the window into her sister's arms, but it happened in the blink of an eye. All of the stress, danger, pain, and homesickness poured out of her at once in an odd mixture of relief, joy, sorrow, and love.

"I thought I would never see you again," Peri sobbed.

"I've missed you, too," Tink said, slightly bewildered. "Man, who knows what state you'd be in if you'd been left here much longer. You act like you haven't seen me in a weeks!"

"I haven't," she whispered, still clinging to Tinkerbell.

"It's only been five days," Tink said, even more confused.

"Has it?" Peri tried to tell her about meeting Elsa and being pulled to the future, but the words would not come out. She decided to wait. "Well, you at least _knew_ what was happening in Pixie Hollow."

"Oh, of course!" Tink said, drawing back so she could look at Peri directly. "Duh, you were in suspense all that time! No wonder it seemed longer to you."

"Yeah, well, what happened?" Peri asked when Tink paused.

"Queen Clarion and Lord Malori talked with the Scout Fairies and Zarina. They were able to convince them to stop punishing all of the disobedient fairies. Instead, they've all been rounded up and they're going to have a long discussion about everything just as soon as you get back."

"Oh. Great, I guess."

"It's progress," Tink admitted. "You may not like everything they have to say, but at least you can come back to Pixie Hollow."

Just then, there was a commotion inside the Darling house. The two fairies peeked through the window in time to see Wendy and John rush to the door. Their mother had entered and was kneeling on the floor, and the two children were bending over her.

"Say hello to your baby brother," their mother said. "His name is Michael."

"They know about Neverland," Peri told Tink quietly. "They think it's a story. Wendy was telling John earlier. They've heard of Peter Pan, too."

"Hmm. I've heard of him, too, but I've never even seen him."

"I think he's a myth. Humans can't go to Neverland."

Tink looked at Peri in surprise. "Of course they can. I mean, it's rare, but it's possible. What did you think those pirates were?"

Peri's jaw dropped as she realized that Elsa could possibly visit Neverland, if not Pixie Hollow. Tink looked at her in concern.

"I think we should get you home, little sis," she said, helping Peri to her feet. "You're not at all acting like yourself. What happened to you these past few days?"

"I might as well start telling you," Periwinkle said. "Because it's so long I'll still be telling you when we get to Pixie Hollow!"

"Did you have another adventure without me?" Tinkerbell teased.

"I most certainly did."


	22. Epilogue: Jack

**Author's Note: Hey, it's not over yet! You guys know how much I love epilogues. Besides, I can't just leave Frozone and Jack in the middle of the arctic!**

* * *

With the last of her energy, Elsa pulled back enough to hug Jack for one last time.

"See you later," she gasped.

A blast of air tore them apart; Jack only just managed to grab onto her arm.

"No, don't go!" he pleaded suddenly.

"I can't stop it, Jack! I _can't_."

"Don't do this to me." Panic began to well up inside him.

"I don't want to go!"

"But no one else _understands_." He was on the verge of tears now. The only other person who had come close to understanding had been Pitch.

"I know, I'm sorry."

"What am I going to do?" he asked desperately.

"Keep asking the Moon," Elsa said.

_Yeah, like that'll help. Like _he'll_ answer me._

Her hand slid further up his arm until only their hands clasped.

"Don't let go," Jack pleaded.

"I can't hold on," she gasped. "It hurts!"

Jack could see the agony clearly written across her face. And she wasn't the only one in pain. He felt like he would be stretched until he tore apart.

"Elsa, you have to let go," Frozone said. "That's the only way you'll be able to move forward with your life."

"Shut up!" Jack yelled down to him angrily. He didn't want Frozone interfering. He didn't care about the consequences. At the moment, he just needed Elsa to stay.

But Elsa nodded tearfully. "But he's right."

"No, don't…"

"You're my best friend, Jack Frost. Remember that."

"Don't you dare!" His eyes were wide. It was as if she were hanging off a cliff, about to fall to her death. "Elsa, don't you dare let go!"

Elsa screamed as the winds ripped them apart. Slowly, despite Jack's best efforts, their hands slipped apart. At tremendous speeds, Elsa and Peri were sucked into the vortex. As a last resort, Jack attempted to fly after them, but it was like trying to get through a brick wall.

"LET ME THROUGH!" he screamed, shoving against the invisible barrier.

But it was no use. The swirling winds gradually died down, and Jack floated in the air, staring at nothing. Nothing was there, and nothing could be heard, just the wind howling across the frozen plains, trying in vain to comfort him. He stayed suspended for so long that eventually he became aware of his ragged breathing, his heart pumping, and the blood rushing in his ears. In shock, Jack had no idea how long he stayed there, unmoving and unfeeling.

Finally, something inside him snapped. Swallowing back tears, he turned to the Moon in a rage.

"THREE HUNDRED YEARS!" he exploded. "Three hundred years of nobody seeing me, nobody believing in me, nobody talking to me, _nobody_ _even liking me_! Not a word from you or any of the other spirits or Guardians being helpful! Three HUNDRED years with no friends! You keep me alive in my tormented half-life. I'm not allowed to die and do you know how many times I've wanted that? Then you share my purpose through somebody else, I get a few believers, a few friends, that's true. But that's not enough to heal three hundred years worth of pain and loneliness. And then YOU bring Elsa into my life and for the first time_ someone understands_ what it's like to be ME. I was starting to think that this was your way of trying to make it up to me, but then you pull her away less than a _week_ later! THAT. DOES. NOT. HELP. Did I do something to hurt you in my former life? Why are you so against me? WHY DO YOU HATE ME?" Hot tears slid down his face—which was unusual because they normally froze and shattered on the ground—but the Moon received it all in stony silence, completely unmoved. "I am so sick and tired of you and your games and riddles and _silence_. I am fed up with you! You are lucky that I've already been sworn in as a Guardian and that I love these kids so much because otherwise I WOULD QUIT!"

The rage, pain, hatred, and anger blazed through him so strongly that he lost track of time and everything else. Dimly, Jack was aware that he was clutching and clawing at the snow and ice, and that firm hands had grasped his shoulders and was pulling him away. When he next regained consciousness, he was lying on a couch in North's office, covered in a literal sheet of ice.

"Hey, North," Frozone said lightly. "He's out of the spirit fever!"

"I told you, spirits don't get sick," North insisted, but he looked relieved.

"How you feeling?" Frozone asked.

Jack tried to sit up, but he was still weak from the outburst. "Not entirely sure…spirit fever?"

"Well, North here claims you lot don't get sick, but you worked yourself into a state that highly resembled a human fever. You were burning up, man."

"Maybe I have secret heat powers," Jack joked weakly. "Given my track record of _him_ not telling me things…"

He sank back onto the pillows, defeated once again. North looked at him sympathetically.

"We don't know much about the Man in the Moon, Jack," he said gently. "He works in mysterious ways. Some say that he can even see into the future. Sometimes, we may not understand why he orchestrates a certain event. We may never learn why. Sometimes we only find out decades or even centuries later. But it always works out for the best, even if we don't see it at the time."

Jack didn't answer.

"Elsa may have been the only person to understand you," Frozone said, trying to offer some more practical, clear advice. "But you still have a lot of friends here who want to help you. If you get sick of everyone here, you're more than welcome to crash our place. Honey would love to meet you."

"I know," Jack said, smiling a little. "I'd like that, actually."

* * *

A few days later, when Jack had recovered, he and Frozone went to the Bennett's house to check on Jamie. The boy was sitting on the front porch, reading a book and looking up and down the street eagerly. He caught sight of them and ran to Jack. Evidently being frozen didn't dissuade Jamie from hugging him.

"Jack!"

"Hey, Jamie! Feeling better?"

"Yeah, lots. I don't really remember it very well."

"I'm glad to hear it," Frozone said. "I felt bad about it."

"But it wasn't your fault," Jamie said earnestly. "It was Syndrome! He controlled the shot."

Suddenly a car horn blared; all three of them jumped. A silver vehicle about the size of a train engine and the shape of a weird shrimp came skidding to a stop in front of the Bennett's house. Margo jumped out first, her sisters not far behind.

"Ah, so this is who you were waiting on," Jack said. "I thought it was me."

"Well, I didn't know you were coming," Jamie said. "But mom invited them over for supper."

"She is very interested to know what happened," Gru said, looking directly at Frozone. "From an adult who was captured."

"Ah. I realize now that things might get tricky. Maybe I'll join you for dinner. What did you tell her, Jamie?"

"I told her I didn't really remember any of it."

"Good thinking," Jack said. "She would think something was very wrong if you told her the truth."

"Or she may not believe you," Gru added.

It took Jack a second to process that Gru was adding onto his sentence. And when he did realize it, he stumbled back.

"You can see me?"

"Do people usually not see you?" Edith asked.

"Not adults…except Frozone."

"Well, I used to be a super-villain, so I saw quite a few things in my day," Gru said casually.

"And after our recent experience, we're ready to believe anything," Lucy chirped.

"Most folks have gone into shock and called it hallucinations," Frozone said. "In fact, we had people making sure that happened."

"Well, we aren't most folks, are we?" Gru grinned almost sinisterly.

"You know," Frozone said after studying him for a minute, "we could use people like you in our superhero agency. If you're interested, of course."

"Well, to be honest, the jam and jelly business isn't doing so well," Gru admitted. "I might take you up on that."

They started walking up the driveway to the house, but Jack, Jamie, and Margo lagged behind.

"What happened to the girls?" Margo asked.

"They…went home," Jack said. "It's complicated."

"Oh," she said. She decided not to press the issue.

"You can come in for dinner, too," Jamie offered, seeing his wistful glance at the house.

"If everyone could see me, I would," Jack said. "But your mom…even if she could see me, I think she's been through enough lately."

"Oh." He sounded disappointed. "I'm sorry we stole Frozone from you."

"It's fine. I see him a lot now. I've actually spent the last few days at his house. And he couldn't follow me anyway."

"Follow you where?" Jamie asked eagerly. He always liked to hear about Jack's adventures.

"Well, you weren't my only believer that was kidnapped, and I think I'll find a few more if I look close enough. I gotta make sure they're all ok."

"Oh, right."

"Jamie, Margo!" Mrs. Bennett called from the door. "What are you doing standing out there? It's time for supper, come on!"

"Coming!" Jamie called. "I gotta go. See you soon?"

"Definitely," Jack said.

Jamie grinned and ran across the yard, Margo following. "Bye, Jack!" he called over his shoulder.

Jack raised a hand and waved. Once they were safely inside, he closed his eyes.

"Wind, take me to Rio."

The wind immediately obliged and picked him up, carrying him south to Rio de Janeiro, the first stop on his world tour. It was summer and scorching hot, so it was a bit of a surprise for Fernando to see Jack. He smiled but didn't speak, since his adopted parents Linda and Tulio were nearby, working with some of their birds. Jack gave them all an unseasonably cool breeze as he left. He couldn't stay long; he still had to visit Scotland, Transylvania, and numerous locations in the States.

Most of them didn't see him or understand who he was though he did find several new believers among the old ones. It was very refreshing to connect with the new children. Frozone looked up in pleasant surprise when Jack entered the apartment, exhausted but satisfied. It had been three days since they had parted at Jamie's, but he had finally tracked down all of the kids and made sure they were recovering.

"So, you're back then," Frozone said almost carelessly.

"Yeah," Jack said nonchalantly. He flopped down on the couch. "Where's Honey?"

"Late night shopping," Frozone said, yawning. "She'll be home soon. So...all the kids are safe?"

Jack nodded. "They're readjusting."

"Glad you came back. I wasn't sure where you had flown off to."

"Sorry," Jack muttered. "I'll let you know next time."

"You gonna stay?"

"Can I?" he asked eagerly.

Frozone grinned. "As long as you'd like."

* * *

**Author's Note: well. That's the end. I hope I didn't make it too clunky. Beginnings and endings are always the hardest parts to write. Please, tell me what you think about this and the rest of the book. (By the way, Jack ends up being unofficially adopted by Frozone and Honey.)**

**Now I know people are going to ask me about writing a sequel. I'm not planning on doing a long series like I did with Companions (although I didn't think I was going to do anything more than Companions United at the time) but I am open to doing a sequel. I'd like to take everyone to Pixie Hollow and to have a reunion, but I need a good plotline first. So it's a possibility, but I have no idea when, if ever, it will come about. But if you follow me, you'll be the first to know!**


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